LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

She! f . G%..5 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



" There has undoubtedly been more money made by 
the cultivation of the cauliflower per acre than by any 
other vegetable yet discovered . " 

Isaac F. Tillinghast, 

Pennsylvania. 



" There is no vegetable, the cultivation of which is 
more generally neglected than that of the cauliflower. 
This is not because it is not considered a valuable addi- 
tion to any garden, but from a mistaken notion that it is 
a very difficult vegetable to raise." 

H. M. Strlngfellow, 

Texas. 



" I incline to think that there is a fortune in store for 
the energetic young man who finds a favorable locality 
for growing this vegetable near any one of our large 
cities and who makes a specialty of the work." 

Prof. E. S. Goff, 

Wisconsin. 




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THE 



CAFLIPLOWEE 



BY 



A. A. riUV/AVAt 




ANN ARBOR, MI< BIG AN: 

R3BGI8XBR PUHLISB i.\< , COMPANY. 

Zbc fnlanfc pros?. 
1891 












Copyright, 1891 , 
By A. A. CROZIER. 

Arm Arbor, Mich. 



CONTENTS. 

r LOJ 

iNTRODU IION 5 

ORIGIN ANH BISTORT. 9 

The Caulii lower Industry— In Europe, In the 
United States. Importation of Cauliflowers. 19 

M.\n.\i.i:mkn i oi the Crop.— Soil." Fertilizers. 
Planting. Cultivating. Harvesting. Keep- 
ing. Marketing 85 

The Earl? Crop.— Caution against Planting it 
largely. Special Directions. Buttoning — 63 

Cauliflower Regions oi rHE United States. 
—Upper Atlantic Coast. Lake Region. Prairie 
Region. Cauliflowers in the South. The 
Pacific Coast , '»i 

[N8E< i lnd E "i N'i - Enemij -. Plea Beetle. Cut 
Worms. Cabbage Maggot. Cabbage Worm, 
Stem Rot. Damping Off. Black Leg 93 

Cat i. ii i.<»\\ be Seed. Importance of Careful Selec- 
tion. Where the Seed is Grown. Influence 
of Climate. American Grown Seed 107 

Varebties. Descriptive Catalogue. Order of 
Earliness. Variety Tests. Best Varieties. ..125 

Broccoli. — Differences between Broccoli and 
Cauliflower. Cultivation, Use. and Varieties 
of Broccoli 189 

Cooking Cauliflower.— Digestibility. Nutritive 
Value. Chemical Composition, lleceipts. . .195 

Recapitulation 221 

Glossary 223 

Referent es 22»5 



INTRODUCTION. 



The cauliflower is one of the minor vegetables 
which is now attracting more than ordinary atten- 
tion in this country, and being growq with remark- 
able success and profit in 8 few localities which 
have been found to be particularly adapted to it. 
With most of our gardeners, however, it is still 
considered a very uncertain and unprofitable crop. 
This is due not only to the peculiar requirements 
of the cauliflower as to soil and climate, but also to 
the want of familiarity on the part of most Ameri- 
can gardeners with modern varieties and with 
methods of cultivation adapted to our climate. 

For a number of years, while engaged in market 
gardening and fruit growing in N\ estern Michigan, 
the writer made a specialty of raising cauliflowers 
for the Grand Rapids and Chicago markets, planting 
from three to live acres a year. During this time 
most of the varieties offered by American seedsmen 
were tested, and the best methods of cultivation 
sought. On the whole, the cauliflower crop was 
found more profitable than any other, with the 
possible exception of peaches. There were partial 
failures, but these were due to causes which might 



6 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

have been foreseen and prevented. The experience 
gained at that time, and subsequent observation, 
have convinced the author that there are many parts 
of the country in which the climate and soil are 
adapted to this vegetable, but where its cultivation 
is yet practically unknown. The requirements for 
success with cauliflower will be found to be simple 
but imperative. A few direct experiments may be 
needed after one has gained the general information 
herein set forth, to enable one to determine 
whether it is best to continue or abandon its culti- 
vation in his own locality. 

I have endeavored to treat the subject in a man- 
ner adapted to the diversity of conditions found 
within the limits of the United States. With 
no vegetable is it more important to have fixed 
rules for one's guidance than with the cauli- 
flower; but these rules must of necessity be of the 
most restricted application; in fact, they require to 
be adjusted to almost each individual case. So, 
while I have not omitted to give minute, practical 
directions where they seemed necessary, I have 
endeavored to call attention to the circumstances 
under which they are to be employed, and must 
here caution the grower against following them too 
implicitly under different circumstances. This 
remark applies particularly to the selection of varie- 
ties and the dates of planting. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Under the head of ''Management of the Crop" 
will be found the most important information of 
general application, while in the chapter on " Cauli- 
flower Regions" are given numerous records of 
experience from growers in all parts of the coun- 
try, which will be found of special value for each 

locality. 

Those who desire direct information on particu- 
lar points will consult the index and turn at once to 
the paragraphs which treat of soil, culture, enemies, 
marketing, besl varieties, etc. It is unfortunate 
that confusion exists in regard to some of the var 
[eties, but it seemed besl to make the List as com- 
plete as possible, even al the risk of introducing a 
few errors. The confusion (which is more appar- 
ent than real), arises, in part, from - Lb of cer- 
tain varieties having been sold at times for those of 
other-, and in part from tin- extreme Liability of 
the varieties of the cauliflower to deteriorate or 
change. Errors from both these Bources, when re 
duced to a minimum by the accumulation of evi- 
dence, reveal the fad thai there are varieties and 
groups of varieties which have acquired well de- 
fined characters, and that the differences -between 
the varieties are increasing rather than otherwise 
as time goes on. The -.-lection of varieties for 
planting is a matter to be determined largely by 
the locality where they are to be grown. The dif- 



8 • THE CAULIFLOWER. 

f erences between them lie mainly in their adaptation 
to particular purposes. There are almost none but 
what are good somewhere. 

I cannot omit to emphasize here the fact that the 
fall crop should be mainly relied upon in this 
country. It is a waste of time to attempt to have 
cauliflowers head in our hot summer months, and 
until our markets are better supplied than they 
now are with this vegetable, it will not often pay 
to do much with the spring crop. The time may 
come when, as in England, we may expect to have 
cauliflower and broccoli the year round, but it has 
not come yet. 

The chapter on cooking cauliflower should not be 
overlooked. One reason why there is such a Uni- 
ted demand for this vegetable in this country is 
that so few here know how to cook it. The meth- 
ods of cooking it are simple enough, but there are 
many persons who always hesitate to try anything 
new, and as cauliflowers do not appear regularly 
in the market these people never learn how to use 
them. 

Those interested in extending the market for 
this vegetable will do well to devise special means 
for introducing it into families not familiar with it. 
The. writer found that foreigners who had been 
accustomed to the use of cauliflower in the " Old 
Country " were his best customers. 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



CIIAITKK I. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 
On the sea-coasts of Great Britain and other 
countries of western Europe, from NTorwaj around 
to the northern shores of the Mediterranean i where 
it is chiefly at home) grows a -mall biennial plant. 
looking Bomewhat like a mustard or half grown 
cabbage. This is the wild cabbage, Brassica oh 
ea, from which <>ui- cultivated cabbages origin- 
ated. It is entirely destitute of a head, but has 
rather succuleni stems and Leaves, and has been 
I more or Less for f<>"<l from the earliest historic 
times. The cultivated plants which mosi resemble 
this wild Bpecies, are our different sorts of kale. 
In fact this wild plant is the original, not onlj of 
our headed cabbage in its different varieties, but 
also of all forms of kale, the kohl rabi, brussels 
sprouts. l)roccolis and cauliflowers. No more won- 
derful example than this exists of the changes pro- 
duced in a wild plant by cultivation. Just when the 
improvement of the wild cabbage began is un- 
known, probably at least 4000 years ago. Of the 



10 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

cultivated forms of this species Theophrastus dis- 
tinguished three, Pliny, six; Tournefort, twenty; 
and De Candolle, in 1821, more than thirty. For 
a long time this plant was used for food in a 
slightly improved state before heads of any 
kind were developed. Sturtevant, quotes Oliver de 
Serres, as saying that, "White cabbages came from 
the north, and the art of making them head was un- 
known in the time of Charlemagne." He adds 
that the first unmistakable reference to our head- 
ed cabbage that he finds is by Bullius, who in 1536 
mentions globular heads, a foot and a half in diam- 
eter. It was probably about this time that the 
cauliflower, and several other forms of the species 
made their appearance. There is difference of 
opinion as to whether our cauliflowers or the 
broccolis were first to originate. Loudon be- 
lieved that the broccolis, which Miller says first 
came to England from Italy in 1719, were de- 
rived from the cauliflower. Phillips, in his 
" History of Cultivated Vegetables," said, in 1822, 
that the broccoli appears to be an accidental mix- 
ture of the common cabbage and the cauliflower, 
but of this he gives no proof. 

Sturtevant says: "It is certainly very curious 
that 4 the early botanists did not describe or figure 
the broccoli. The omission is only explainable on 
the supposition that it was confounded with the 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 11 

cauliflower, just as Linna?us brought the cauliflower 
and the broccoli into one botanical variety." When 
broccolis came to England from Italy, they were at 
I known under the nam*- "sprout-cauliflower," or 
'•Italian asparagus." This, however, is not sufficient 
reason for believing that the broccolis are derived 
from the cauliflowers, as the word broccoli was, 
and still is, applied in Italy to the tender shoot 
various kind- of cabbages and turn; 

Some recent authorities have believed, since 
the broccoli ie sr than the cauliflower, more 

variable in character, more robust in habit, and 
requires a lon^ ason, that it is the original 

form, <>f whieh the cauliflower is only an improve- 
ment. Thus, Vilmorin Bays: "The Bpr outing or 
asparagus broccoli represent the first form 

exhibited by the new vegetable when it 01 
to be the earliest cabbage, and was grown with an 
ecial view to its shoots; after this, by continued 
-■lection and successive improvements, varieties 
were obtained which produced a compact white 
dead, and some of these varieties were still further 
improved into kinds which are sufficiently early to 
commence and complete their entire growth in the 
course of the same year; these last named kinds 
are now known by the name of cauliflowers." 

At the Cirencester Agricultural College, Ens- 

© © * © 

land, about I860, broccolis were produced, with 



12 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

other variables, directly from seeds of the wild cab- 
bage. These, and other considerations, make |it 
seem doubtful that our broccolis have originated 
from our cauliflowers. Whatever the original 
form of the cauliflower may have been, it seems 
more probable that the broccolis now grown had a 
separate origin, either from the wild state or from 
some form of kale. Nearly all our present varieties of 
broccoli originated in England from a few sorts in- 
troduced from Italy. 

Cauliflowers, in name at least, are older than 
the broccolis, and were brought to a high 
state of development and widely distributed 
before the latter are mentioned in history. 
They were grown in the Mediterranean region 
long before they became known in other parts of 
Europe. 

Sturtevant finds no mention of the cauliflower or 
broccoli in ancient authors, the only indication of 
the kind being the use of the word cyma by Pliny 
for a form of the cabbage tribe, which he thinks 
may have been the broccoli. Heuze states that 
three varieties of cauliflower were known in Spairi 
in the twelfth century. In 1565 the cauliflower is 
reported as being extensively grown in Hayti in 
the New World. 

In 1573-5, Rauwolf, while traveling in the East, 
found the cauliflower cultivated at Aleppo, in Turkey. 



OR] • II! stub V. 13 

ind from 
fche I jlao 1 of ( '■. prus, and ii is mentioned by L 

in i 

Ai in hia work on the "Plants of Egypt," 

published in 1 " .' the 

mntry ■.. 

well 

< t-erard p Lre of and in 

1 -V.iT. In 1612 it il in 

an. I in l'< l'» ;•. >ld in the Loi 

ket. In l 
quoted as saying that, '"It comes Paris by 

from ' . which 

is the only place I know of W 

cultivation 
tended tin-, Ingland, especially, 

the i icame a 

! !i|> Miller, in his 
"(};:■ published in IT 1 1 . 

E the metho I of growin 
etable, I y, while 

■ . : I 

iver, 1 1 1 a t "caul 
far improved in England a ted in goodness 

ami magnitude what arc produced in most par' 
Europe." Prior to the French Revolution, (which 
in in 177 s i caulifl i. in fact, come to be 



14 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

largely exported from England into Holland, Ger- 
many and France; but soon after this it came to be 
more generally grown in those countries and was no 
longer imported, though English seed was still used. 

The numerous varieties of cauliflower now culti- 
vated are of comparatively recent origin. Although 
some of the earliest writers on this vegetable men- 
tion two or more varieties, these were in some cases 
merely different crops produced by sowing the 
seed at different periods. In 1796, Marshall, in 
his English work on gardening, says that "cauli- 
flower is sometimes distinguished into an early and 
late sort ; though in fact there is no difference, only 
as the seed of that called 'early' is saved from the 
foremost plants." Phillips, in 1822, said: "Our 
gardeners furnish us with an early and a late variety, 
both of which are much esteemed." 

In 1831, Don, of England, in his work on botany 
and gardening ( "History of Dichlamycleous Plants" ) 
describes fifteen varieties of broccoli and three of 
cauliflower. The latter were known as Early, 
Later or Large, and Red, the last being the most 
hardy. These three kinds differed but little in 
general character, and were all inclined to sport 
into inferior varieties. 

In 1832 there was still a discussion in England 
as to whether the early and late cauliflowers were 
really distinct, or differed only in time of sowing. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



15 



John Rogers, in his "Vegetable Cultivator'' (Lon- 
don, 1843 i. said: " There are two varieties of the 
cauliflower, the early and the late, which are alike 
in their growth and size, only that the early kind. 
as the name implies, comes in about a week before 
the other, provided the true sori has been obtained. 
There is, however, no certainty at knowing this, 
un l ( . » wing the Beed from the earliest 

- the practice of the London kitchen garden 
The early variety was grown for a number ol years 
in the grounds called the Meat-house Gardens, at 
Milli.ank. near Chelsea, and was <>f a sup 
quality, and generally the first ftl market. The 
Late variety is supposed to have originated from a 
stock for many years cultivated on a pice.. <>f ground 
called the Jamaica level, near Deptford, and which 
produced oncommonly fine head-, bu1 later than 
those at MUlbank Both soils are aearly similar, 
being a deep rich loam, on a moisl subsoil, and con 
tinually enriched with dung. Both the varieties are 
of a delicate nature, being generally t<><> tendei to 
t the cold of the winter season without the 
occasional aid of glasses or other means; and the 
sight of many acre- overspread with such gla 
in the vicinity of London give- a stranger a forcible 
idea of the riches and luxury of the capital." 

In France, in 1S24, three varieties, differing 
mainly in earliness, were recognized, le dur t le 



16 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

demi-dur and le tendre. These names are still 
applied to well known French sorts. 

Victor Paquet, in his Plantes Potagers, published 
at Paris in 1846, says: "The greater number of 
varieties of cauliflower are white, but some are 
green or reddish. They are cooked in water, and 
dressed with oil or white sauce. We cultivate two 
distinct varieties, tendre and demi-dur. The sub- 
varieties gros and petit Solomon are sorts of the 
tendre." 

Thus we see that early in the present century 
there were sorts differing at least in time of matur- 
ity which had originated by selection ; and, although 
history does not show it, we must infer that even then 
there were distinct differences in the cauliflowers 
cultivated in different parts of Europe. From this 
time on cauliflowers from various localities were 
brought more into public notice and greater efforts 
were made toward their improvement. 

In 1845, C. M. Hovey, of Boston, said, that " the 
varieties of cauliflower have been greatly improved 
within a few years, and now not less than a dozen 
kinds are found iD the catalogues." The most 
noted of those mentioned by him are Walcheren 
and Large Asiatic — varieties still in cultivation. 
Burr described ten sorts in 1863, and Vilmorin six- 
teen sorts in 1883. There are recorded in the 
present work the names of one hundred and forty 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 1 i 

varieties besides synonyms. Some of these varie- 
ties are no longer cultivated, and a few are too near 
other sorts to be considered worthy of a separate 
nam hat of the cauliliowers proper there may 

said to be now in cultivation about one hundred 

• inct varieti 



CHAPTEB II. 



THE CAULIFLOWER INDUSTRY. 

In the [Jnited Sta already stated, the cauli- 

flower industry is but little developed Thi 
table rec ''M' 1 *'- far : >n tli:m 

is given to celery, though it is more easily grown. 
One may look over th< ' files of some of our 

agricultural and horticultural papers for Beveral 
vear . 'i.l the cauliflower men- 

tioned In fact, more general attention was given 
the cauliflower in this country forty years ago than 
to-day. The disappointments of those who at- 
tempted to grow cauliflower at an early day, expect 
ing to grow it. as in Europe, with as little trouble 
as cabbage, have led to an almost aniversal belief 
that the cauliflower is peculiarly unreliable in the 
United Statea This, for a large portion of the 
country, is true; but it is beginning to be knew;, 
that there are localities where, with proper man- 
agement, it is almost as - any crop. 

It is by no means true that in Europe the cauli- 
flower is everywhere grown with success. There 
are comparatively small areas, even in the most 
favorable portions of that continent, where it can 
be profitably grown. Although the climate of 



20 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

Europe, as a whole, is better for this vegetable than 
that of the United States, the greater success with 
the cauliflower there is due largely to the greater 
care exercised in choosing proper soil, in fertiliza- 
tion, and in irrigation. The area of cauliflower 
growing has largely increased in Europe within 
the past few years. In the vicinity of Angiers, 
France, the growing of cauliflower for market be- 
gan about 1880. In a short time it reached an ex- 
tent of several thousand hectares ( a hectare is two 
and one-half acres). There is found in this region 
a loamy soil, such as is especially suitable for this 
vegetable. The land is thrown up into beds 
twenty-five or thirty feet wide, with ditches be- 
tween for irrigation. The rows are placed two and 
one-half feet apart, and the plants one and one- 
half feet apart in the rows. On the approach of 
winter the plants which are still unheaded are 
ridged up with earth for protection in the same 
manner as celery. The crop fails from too cold or 
too wet weather, about one year in five. The heads 
are mostly sent to Paris, and sell there at from 
forty cents to $1 per dozen. Even at these rates 
the crop is a profitable one, often bringing $300 per 
acre after paying the cost of marketing. Land is 
worth from $24 to $40 per acre. For three or four 
weeks in spring there are sent from Angiers to 
Paris, on an average, forty car-loads per day. In 



THE CAULIFLOWER INDUSTRY. 21 

the immediate vicinity of Paris large quantities of 
cauliflower are grown for market. 

In some parts of Germany the cauliflower is a 
very popular crop. Around Erfurt, which is 
nearly in the center of the empire, greater care is 
taken with it- cultivation than probablj anywhere 
else in the world, and large quantities are grown 

for a I. The Late James Vick has- told < Report 

Mich. Pom. S<><\. L87 1. p. 206, » how the Low swampy 
land around Erfurl is thrown up into wide beds 
with ditches between, from which, every dry day, the 
water is dipped upon the plants. In Austria, also, 
cauliflower is a well known vegetable, and several 
valuable varieties have originated in that country. 
Few seedsmen offer a more complete li-t of varie 
than those of Vienna. In Italy the cauliflower 
has long been known, and in some places is a 
Btaple food of the poorer classes. Mbsl of our 
standard late varieties are of Italian origin. 

In Holland, cauliflowers are grown not onlj for 
home use and tor Bead, but also for the early Lon- 
don market. Around London the cauliflower has 
been extensively grown for a longer time than any- 
where else, and it is there regarded as one of the 
most important garden crops. A recent English 
writer says: " With the exception of the potato, I 
question whether there is another vegetable to be 
compared with the cauliflower for general useful- 



22 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

ness." Hundreds of acres are devoted to it near 
London, a large portion being under glass for the 
early crop. Formerly the cauliflower crop was all 
cut and sent to market, with the exception of a 
small portion saved for seed; but of late, extensive 
fields are purchased entire by Crosse and Blackwell 
for pickling purposes. 

In the United States there are a few points where 
the growing of cauliflower for market is assuming 
considerable importance. On Long Island, in 1879, 
the crop was estimated by Oemler at 100,000 pounds, 
besides what was used for pickling. In 1885 Brill 
estimated the total crop of Suffolk County at about 
125,000 barrels. In 1889, the value of the crop 
sold from Suffolk County was estimated at $200,- 
000, nine-tenths of all the cauliflowers sent to the 
New York market being grown in that county. At 
Fariningdale and Central Park, in 1888, two pickle 
factories used five hundred barrels of cauliflowers, 
besides the usual proportion of other vegetables. 
Much of the crop from Long Island is now sent to 
markets beyond New York. Philadelphia receives 
but little good cauliflower except that which comes 
from Long Island. The same is true of the city of 
Washington. The receipts in the latter city from 
Long Island for the three fall months of 1890 were 
about 20,000 barrels. 

The Chicago market is seldom fully supplied 



THE CAULIFLOWER INDUSTRY. 23 

with cauliflowers and the price there averages fully 
as good as anywhere in the country. Considerable 
amounts are grown near the city, and small quan- 
tities are shipped in from Michigan. Wisconsin, Cen- 
tral Illinois, and even from California. One pickle 
factory at Crystal Lake, near Chicago, contracted, 
in 1^71. for L6 acre- of cauliflowers, besides other 
luce. The pickle factories always furnish a 
market for any surplus when the price Ls Low, or 
the head- have become disfigured in any way. In 
fact, the Bupply of home grown cauliflowers is 
always insufficient for pickling purposes, and large 
amounts have to be annually imported, aotwith 
standing the tariff, which, formerly ten per cent., 
ad valorum, is aow forty five per cent [mported 

•auliflowers are brought mainly from Germany and 
Holland, and come packed in brine in 60 gallon 

tasks. Large quantities of mixed pickles contain 
ing cauliflower are also imported. 



( IIAPTKU III. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP. 
i] i.. 

Almost any soil will do for fche cauliflower, pro- 
viding it i- moist and fertile. The requirements of 
this vegetable as to soil are practically the same as 
those forthecabba »pt, that as the cauliflower 

will stand Lose drouth, it should generally have a 
heavier and richer Boil, and rather more room. A 
soil which produces cabbages with large and rather 
softheads is likelyto be good for cauliflowers; that 
is. it contain- more vegetable matter than the right 
amount l\»r producing hard heads of cabbage. 
Muck will answer for cauliflowers if it is Dot too 
wet or too dry: it should like any other soil be 

treated to a g I coat of barn-yard manure horse 

manure being preferable od Buch land, as it pro- 
mote- fermentation. Small quantities of lime may 
also be applied for the same reason. 

The besl -oil is generally a strong sandy loam. 
i. Jit -and or gravel i- the poorest; and unless 

made very rich and artificially watered, it i- u-eless 
to attempt to grow cauliflowers on such a soil in 
ordinary seasons. Heavy clay is less suitable for 
cauliflower than for cabbage, chiefly because on 



26 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

such a soil the plants are apt to be small and late. 
In a warm climate a heavier soil is required than 
in a cool one. The ground should, if possible, be 
fresh sod-land (preferably pasture) or at most one 
year removed from the sod. It is unsafe to plant 
cauliflowers after cauliflowers, or any other plant 
of the cabbage tribe, though it is sometimes suc- 
cessfully done. Newly cleared land, or land fresh 
from the sod, is even more desirable for cauliflowers 
than for cabbages. On new land the crop is not 
only less subject to disease and the attacks of in- 
sects, but its growth is likely to be more satisfactory, 
even without manure, or with only a moderate 
amount, than it is on old land, however well ma- 
nured. 

FERTILIZERS. 

The cauliflower is a gross feeder, and land in- 
tended for this crop can hardly be made too rich. 
Barn-yard manure is usually employed, and there 
>is nothing better for general use. Commercial fer- 
tilizers — potash, soda and phosphates — are also 
good, especially to promote heading. The wild 
plant from which the cauliflower is derived being a 
native of the sea- shore, common salt seems par- 
ticularly adapted to it. Kelp, or sea- weed, is used 
with advantage where it can be obtained. 

If barn-yard manure is not too coarse, plowing 
it under in moderate amount will, in addition to its 



IN'. THE SEED. 2 t 

fertilizing effect, help to keep the land moist. 
"Where the cabbage maggot is troublesome the use 
of fresh stable manure is thought to promote the 
attack of that insect, and therefore only well rotted 
manure is recommended. Of course a largeramount 
of manure may be safely applied if it is well rotted 
than if it is coarse and Btrawy. Liquid manure is 
used 1>; many growers, being applied a few weeks 
before planting, and from time to time during the 
season. Water-closel contents, diluted or com 
bed, and applied either id the liquid or powd 
ered form, is one of the besi of fertilizers for the 
cauliflower, bnl n should used too freely, or 

too late in the season All < r concentrated 

fertilizers should be applied at leas! two weeks 
before the time for transplanting, and such as are 
applied od the surface Bhould be well mixed with 
thf Boil. 

BOWING I'll! SEED. 

The preparation of the seed bed will vary accord 
ing to circumstances. I formerly grew the plants 

for the fall crop in beds elevated two or three feet 
above the ground, in order to escape the Ilea beetle, 
but in later years 1 have grown a portion of the 
plants in the open ground. This method requires 
less care, and is now usually practiced by large grow- 
ers, though it sometimes fails, for the reason stated. 
Remedies for the Ilea beetle will be found in another 



28 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

chapter. The soil in which the plants are to be 
grown should be rich and fine, rather light, and 
improved, if necessary, with a little of the finest old 
rotted manure. A small amount of lime^or ashes 
raked into the soil is a benefit, and isjthought to 
prevent the attack of the cabbage maggot, though 
its value, if any, for this purpose, is slight. An old 
brush-heap burnt off makes a favorite place for sow- 
ing cauliflower and cabbage seed, but it is seldom 
that market gardeners care to go out of their way to 
get such a place. The large cauliflower growers oi 
Long Island usually sow the seed in drills across 
one end of the field in which the crop is to be grown, 
raking into the soil before sowing, a moderate dress- 
in of of some commercial fertilizer. 

It is often recommended to sow the seed on the 
north side of a fence, or in some other partially 
shaded place. I have never seen any necessity for 
this, and once spoiled a quantity of plants by grow- 
ing them in the partial shade of some large trees. 
At the South, as elsewhere stated, it is sometimes 
necessary to give the young plants shade during 
the middle of the day if they are started in the 
summer months. 

The seed should always be sown thinly, not only 
because it is expensive and none should be wasted, 
but in order that all may have room to develop into 
healthy and stocky plants. If the weather is at all 



BOWING THE SEED. 29 

dry it is well to lay boards, or some other covering, 
over the Beed bed until the plants begin to come up. 
This will insure speedy and uniform germination. 
If this is done the seed may be sown very shallow; 
otherwise it should be -own at Least half an inch 
deep (or even deeper if the soil i-, light » and the 
soil pressed linn after mowing. 

Transplanting the young plants in the Beed-bed 
will render them -tocky and vigorous, and BUOuld 
always be practiced with the early crop, but if the 
seed ; sufficiently 'bin it i> unnecessary with 

out- door plants intended for the late crop. Some 
grown--, including Sir. Gregory of Massachusetts, 
pract ice Bowing the seed in hills in the open ground 
where the plant- are to remain Several Beeds are 
placed in a hill to insure against Loss. This method, 
however, will seldom be found desirable. 

To the above may be added the following e\e. 1 

lent directions given by Mr. Francis Brill, jof River- 
head, Long Island, in his pamphlet on the cauli- 
flower: "Occasionally, by reason of drouth. 
frequently by reason of the ravages of insects, great 
difficulty ha- 'hem exeprienced in growing plant- 
in spring and early summer, which seldom occurs 
in the fall— at which time, however, the same pre- 
cautions may be used. Time was when we could 
circumvent the flea and louse on young plants by 
the use of lime, tobacco, ashes, soot, etc., but of late 



30 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

years they seem to have been so very abundant, and 
so materially aided in their work of destruction by the 
black grub below and the green grub above ground, 
that many complete failures have occurred in en- 
deavors to grow plants. To avoid this I recommend 
that the ground intended for plants be plowed or 
spaded in the fall, and if stable manure is to be 
used, let it be well rotted and turned under at this 
time, and again work the soil early in the spring, at 
this time turning under a good dressing of potash 
salts; keep the ground free from weeds by occa- 
sional stirring until the time for sowing the seed, 
then lay out a bed six feet wide, and as long as you 
please ; make the surface smooth, and enclose it with 
common boards ten or twelve inches in width set 
edgewise perpendicularly, one-half their width 
under ground and held in place by stakes driven at 
the joints and centres. Within this frame, begin- 
ning at either end, dig and thoroughly pulverize the 
soil by means of a spading fork, potato fork, or 
similar implement, watching closely for any grub 
worms which may not have been eradicated by the 
previous workings and which we now propose to 
keep out by means of the partially sunken boards. 
"Fertilizers may, at this time, be applied and 
forked under or raked in, using judgment as to 
method and quantity, which must be determined by 
the previous condition of the soil and the strength 



IN<. THE SEED. 31 

of the material used, remembering that it is not well 
to have any chemicals in too close proximity to the 
tender rootlets of the young plants; and while poor 
soil is no place in which to grow healthy plants, 
yet they should not be over stimulated, but the 
ground must be in proper condition to keep up a 
vigorous and healthy growth. Let this digging be 
done in the latter pari of the afternoon when the 
sun has spent its force and the soil will not dry out 
two quickly; rake the !>•'' b ;o, and sow the 

seed while the Burface soi] La fresh and moist, using 
a ten-inch board as long as your bed is wide, which 
place five or Bi2 inches from the end or head of the 
frame, eros ad with a blunt stick, bbj three- 

fourths of an inch in diameter, draw a mark not 
more than < 'in 'half an inch deep along each edg< 
the board; bow the seed thinly in these marks, 
using the thumb and finger to guide it; then turn- 
ing the board twice, bow two more row-, and so 
proceed until you have sown -everal rows, Bay L2 
to 20, when they musl be covered, using the back 
of a spade, drawing it with Borne pressure half way 
from each side of the bed A very important pari 
of this operation which tnusl qo< be overlooked ia to 
get the s< i d in and covt red while the ground is fn sh 
and <l'imj>: therefore complete the work in 
tions. At the distance given the hoe can be used 
and the soil stirred between the rows, which is 



32 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

quite essential to a proper growth of the plants, as 
well as necessary to keep down the weeds. 

" The sowing completed, the bed may be covered 
with old bags or cloth to retain the moisture, 
which, however, must be removed upon the first 
signs of the seed germinating; but what is better 
still, a shade of muslin can be used, supported by 
the upper edges of the frame and narrow strips 
laid across, which can remain until the plants are 
well above ground, when it should be removed, the 
plants sprinkled with tobacco dust, air slacked lime, 
ashes or common plaster, and a covering of mos- 
quito netting be substituted for the muslin, which 
will admit light, air and sunshine, yet be a partial 
shade, and will help to protect the plants from in 
sects. This cover may be removed during rain 
weather, and, if you please, every night to give the 
plants the benefit of the dew. 

"I have decided objections to artificial watering of 
seed-beds, especially when the seed is first sown or 
in the early stages of growth of the plants, and 
this may generally be avoided by following the 
directions just given; but when circumstances may 
seem to demand otherwise, let the bed be prepared 
and in the afternoon thoroughly saturated, and 
toward evening the seed may be sown and covered 
as above described, but never water the bed after 
the seed has been sown until the plants are well 



WHEN TO SOW. 33 

up, for this has a tendency to pack the surface and 
cause it to bake and prevent proper germinating of 
the seed. After the plants are fairly above ground, 
light waterings at evening may be given, but must 
be avoided if possible. 

"I have not given these precautions for sowing 
seed in September for wintering over, for the reason 
that at that season of the year we are- comparatively 
free from insects and drouths." 
\vin:\ TO BOW. 

The time for sowing will depend of course on 
the locality and variety. At the North, half early 
varieties, intended for the fall crop, are usually 
sown and set out aboni the Bame time as Late cab- 
bage, in Western Michigan, in Latitude 13 . 1 have 
found that Early Paris -own about May 12, and 
set out about the "J< >t h of June, begins to head in 
September, and forms its main crop in October, 
about the time desired. In the latitude <»f New 
York City the time for setting out the main crop 
is from June '_'< » to the 1-t of August. Plants set 
as late as the 1-t of August are intended to head 
just before winter, and must be of the earliest varie- 
ties The large late varieties, like Autumn Giant, 
if used at all. must be Matted early and set out not 
later than the first of June, as they require the en- 
tire season. 

Several kinds are often sown to form a succes- 



34 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

sion, but where one has tested a variety and found 
it adapted to his needs, it is often quite as well to 
rely upon it almost entirely, and make two or three 
sowings for a succession if desired. Even a single 
sowing, well timed, will generally furnish cuttings 
through the most favorable part of the season. If 
the seed is of the best quality, and the plants are 
of uniform size, and all set at the same time, neither 
too early nor too late, on soil of uniform character, 
they will in a good season form most of their heads 
within a short space of time, sometimes within a 
week; but generally in a given sowing, a few heads 
will form very early, then the bulk of tire crop will 
come on during three or four weeks, while the re- 
mainder will hang on until late, perhaps until win- 
ter. No other crop is so much affected in time of 
maturity by the character of the season as the 
cauliflower, and even the most experienced growers 
sometimes fail in getting them to head at the time 
desired. 

The time for starting the plants for the early 
crop in the North is in February, and the method 
is described in full in another chapter. They 
should be set out, as stated, as - soon as heavy freez- 
ing is past, say about the middle of April. The 
most unfavorable time of any, and yet the time 
when the inexperienced are most likely to set them, 
is about the middle of May, for early varieties set 



BETTING THE PLANTS. 35 

then usually head in August when it is seldom that 
heads can be obtained of good quality. 

PREPARING THE GBOUND. 

Land intended for cauliflowers should be plowed 
deeply, as the cauliflower is a deep feeder and de 
lights in a rich, cool subsoil; in fact, with do other 
plant of the cabbage family is a deep soil so im- 
portant. The manure, of whatever kind, should be 
mainly spread apoD the ground and plowed on ler 3 
a -mailer amount, in a finely divided state, being 
harrowed in upon the surface. The plowing should 
be done at Least a month before the plant- are to be 
set. and the land kepi well harrowed or cultivated 
until that time in order to retain the moisture 
in the soil, and put it in the ndition for the 

growth of the plants. 

. - I II. \\ 

When the time come-, for setting the plant- it is 

»od plan to go over the surface with a planter 
in order to smooth it oil', so the marking can he 
nicely done. This also packs the ground some- 
what, so that the plants can he set more (irmly. 
The land may he then marked out. crosswise first, 
three feet apart, then lengthwise three feet apart 
for Dwarf Erfurt and all -mall growing kinds, and 
four feet apart for Algiers and other large varieties. 
These are suitable distances for the late crop in or- 



36 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



dinary cases, but where land is cheap, aod little 
manure used, except sod turned under, four by four 
feet is none too much room for the large varieties. 
The early crop, on the other hand, which is always 
heavily manured, is sometimes set with the rows as 
close as two feet apart, and the plants twenty 
inches apart in the rows. The small size of the 
heads resulting from close planting is no actual 
loss, for small heads, if of good quality, are more 
popular than large ones, and bring a higher price 
in proportion to their size. The greatest danger 
from too close setting of the main crop is that the 
plants may fail to head at all. It is for this reason 
that cauliflowers are usually set farther apart than 
cabbages. 

The best time to set the plants is just before or 
after a rain, but they may be set at any time if the 
soil has been kept damp by frequent cultivation. 
In dry, clear weather the planting should be done 
only toward the close of the day. If it should be 
necessary to apply water at the time of setting, it 
should be thoroughly done, not less than a quart 
being placed in each hole which is to receive a 
plant. Water should never be applied after the 
plant is set unless loose earth is afterwards thrown 
over the place, for the compact surface left after 
the water has been absorbed dries out more rapidly 
than before. 



( CLTIVATIOX. 37 

The plants to be set should not be too large or 
they will be liable to button, especially if the con- 
ditions are in any way unfavorable for growth. If 
Large plants must be used extra pains should be 
taken in setting, in order that there maybe as little 
check in their growth as possible. With cauli- 
flowers, as with cabbages, Large plants are the 
easiest to make Live, but. for the reason stated, it is 
desirable to ase them. 

Setting the plants in shallow trenches, after the 
manner of celery, is sometimes practised in garden 
culture. This places the roots where the soil is 
cool and moisi and enables the plants to be watered 
ood advantage This method is mainly used in 
early spring planting, when, besides it - convenience 
in irrigation, it also serves to protect the plants 
from col<l wind-. Planting between ridges, as else 
where described, serves the Bame purpose of pro 
teotion. In either case the Burface is gradually 
brought bo a Level as the plant- are cultivate I 

• I f riVATI"\. 

In cultivation everything depends on keeping up 
a steady, vigorous growth, for if the plant- are 

checked in their growth, they are liable either to 
form small heads prematurely, or to continue their 
growth so late as to fail to head at all. Level cul- 
tivation is usually practiced, the same as in ordin 
ary held crops. Drawing the earth to the stems, 



38 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

as sometimes recommended and practiced abroad, 
is unnecessary, though with tali growing varieties 
it serves a useful purpose in preventing the plants 
being blown over by the wind. Cultivation should 
continue until the leaves are so large that they are 
liable to be broken off, or until the plants are 
nearly ready to head. The application of a mulch 
of manure or litter at the time cultivation ceases, is 
an excellent practice, though seldom resorted to. 
It is important that deep cultivation should cease 
at the right time, even if the hoe has to be used 
afterward. The crop may be seriously injured, or 
at least delayed, by cultivation after the plants be- 
gin to head. At this time the ground should be 
undisturbed so that the roots may occupy the entire 
soil. Dry weather, and the compact nature of the 
soil after cultivation ceases, check the growth of the 
plants, and promote the formation of heads, pro- 
viding the plants have attained a proper age and 
size. The influence of a firm soil in promoting 
heading is also seen in the success with which cauli- 
flowers can frequently be grown after peas or other- 
early crops. In autumn the first sharp frosts ap- 
pear to be particularly efficacious in starting the 
plants to heading. 

IRRIGATION. 

After heading: has commenced is the time when 
irrigation, is most needed. An abundance of water 



BLANCHING THE HEADS. 39 

at this time will add greatly, both to the quant ity 
and quality of the product, particularly if some fer- 
tilizer is added at the same time. Irrigation is not 
often practiced in this country, except in the arid 
districts of the West, and occasionally, with the 
early crop, near a few of our large cities. In 
Europe, where Labor is cheap, it is often resorted to, 
even where the water has to be earned by hand. 
Early in th< a, if irrigation is needed, once a 

week i- frequent enough to apply the water, but 
while the plant- are heading it may be applied with 
advantaj y daj if the weather is dry. 

bbads. 

The value of cauliflowers for use or market de 
pends almost entirely on their being white and 
tender. To have them remain in this condition 
until fully matured, they must be protected from 
sun. Head- which are left exposed become 
yellow in color, id brownish pur] the sun 

Such head- also acquire a Btrong, dis- 
agreeable flavor. 

There are various way- of covering tin* heads, 
but it is nearly always done with the Leaves of the 
plant. Early in the season, when the weather is 
dry and warm, the work may be done during the 
heat of the day by lapping the leaves, one after 
another, over the head until it is sufficiently covered, 
tucking the last loaf under to hold all in place. 



40 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

Or the leaves may be fastened with a butcher's 
skewer, or any sharp stick. In Florida, orange 
thorns are employed for this purpose. Care must 
be taken not to confine the heads too closely, or 
they will grow out of shape, besides being liable to 
heat and become spotted. Later in the season, 
when the weather is cool and damp, the leaves will 
be too stiff to be bent down, and the head must 
then be protected either by placing over it leaves 
broken from the outer part of the plant, or from 
stumps from which the heads have already been 
cut, or by tying the leaves together above the head. 
The latter is the usual method, rye straw or bast 
matting being generally used for the purpose. 
Merely breaking down the inner leaves upon the 
head is unsatisfactory, as the growth, both of the 
leaves and the head, soon causes the head to be- 
come exposed. 

The artificial blanching of the head is most im- 
portant early in the season, while the sun is hot, 
and the field should then be gone over as often as 
every other day for this purpose, taking two rows 
at a time. Later in the season, during damp, 
cloudy weather, heads will sometimes reach full 
size and still be of good color though entirely ex- 
posed. It is unsafe to leave them in this way, 
however, as a little change in color seriously affects 
their market value. Covering the heads appears 



PROTECTING FROM FROST. 41 

also to cause them to grow larger and remain solid 
longer than they otherwise would, particularly 
early in the season. 

PROTECTING FROM FROST. 

Another object. Late in the season, in covering 
the heads, is to protect them from frost. A fr<> 
cauliflower is practically worthless fur market, as it 
is nearly certain to turn black on the surface after 
one or two day-' exposure. Freezing, in fact, i- 
one of the most frequent sources of ]<>-- on cauli- 
flower- late in the season, and a- tin- La til.- most 
favorable time of the year for them to head, it is 
necessary t<> take particular car.- to guard against 
Loss from tlii- can-.-. We frequently have a few 
hard frosts early in < totober, which spoil such heads 
a- are nearly mature, unless they have been pro- 
tected. After tlii— there may !>«• a month or more 
of good weather, during which the bulk of the crop 
may come to maturity. The head- are protected 
from frost in the same manner a- from tic sun, 
but it is best not to have the Leaves lie directly on 
the head. Protection i> particularly needed as the 
heads approach maturity, a- they are then more 
easily injured than while small. Head- which are 
well covered will usually stand eight or ten degrees 
of frost without injury, depending on the amount 
of cloudiness and moisture present. In cool, moist, 
cloudy weather, frosted heads will sometimes re- 



42 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

cover and show no injury. It is even possible for 
heads to become frozen solid and come out in good 
condition, but this rarely occurs, and requires that 
the thawing take place in the most favorable 
manner possible. Cutting the frozen heads with 
their leaves, throwing them in shallow heaps upon 
the ground, and covering with straw, will sometimes 
bring them out in good condition; also throwing 
them into water but little above the freezing point. 
The safest way, however, if possible, is to cook the 
heads at once, putting the frozen heads directly 
into boiling water. Treated in this manner they 
exhibit little or no effect of the freezing. 

The safest way, in case heavy freezing is appre- 
hended, is to cut and remove to a place of safety 
all heads which have attained half their size or 
more. 

CUTTING THE HEADS. 

The frequency of cutting will depend on the 
season of the year. In summer, the heads will re- 
main at the proper stage for cutting no more than 
a day or two, while late in autumn they may often 
be left a week before becoming overgrown. 

Frequent cutting is at all times desirable, how- 
ever, as it is best to let the heads get as large as 
they will before becoming loose and warty. The 
gain in size not only increases their selling price, 
but the flavor also appears to improve as the heads 



( QTTING Tin. HEADS. 43 

approach maturity. Immature heads, though mild 
and tender, have less tlavor than those which are 
full grown. It is better, however, to cut a head too 
soon than to leave it too long, for a small solid 
head will Bell for more than a large loose one. To 
judge wheo a head has reached full Bize requires 
some experience. The Bize of course, will depend 
on that of the plant, but its size in proportioo to 
that of thf plan! is perhaps the most commou point 
by which one judges wheo it is ready to cut The 
head, when it approaches maturity, rises within 
the leaves and bulges the Latter outward, so that one 
can often tell at some distance which heads are 
aboul read} The surfa< f the head, as it ap- 
proaches maturity Looses it- polished appearance 
and becomes more distinctly graine 1 This cha 
does n"t go too far, does doI detract fron 
appearance and value. To examine a head, do not 
untie the top, l»nt part the leaves ai the side. If 
there are signs of cracking or breaking it is ready 
to cut. The lead- should be (, ut with aboul an 
inch of Btalk and two or three full circle-, of Leaves. 
A long thin Haded knife is besi to cut with. 

The best time of the day in which to cut the 
head-, it* for home ose, or a near market, is in the 
morning while the dew i- on, a- they will then 
remain longer in a fresh Btate than if cut latter in the 
day. If to pack for a distant market, the heads 



44 THE CAULIFLOWEE. 

will carry and keep better if cut when dry, but 
on a cool day or towards evening. 

HANDLING. 

The heads must be handled with care to prevent 
the " flower " becoming bruised or soiled in any 
way. A bruise will turn black in a short time, the 
same as a frosted surface, and thus injure the sale 
of the head. The heads can be handled most 
safely if the leaves are left on, and these had best 
be left entire until the plants are taken to the pack- 
ing shed; and for a near market they may even be 
left on to advantage until the plants are ready to be 
exposed for sale. The main object of their removal 
is in order that the heads may be readily inspected. 

TRIMMING. 

This is often done in the field, but, as just stated, 
it had better be delayed until the heads are carried 
to the place for packing. To trim them, take hold 
of a head near the butt with one hand, holding it 
upright against you, then with a turning motion, 
cut clear around the head, leaving the cut ends of 
the leaves projecting about an inch above the edge 
of the head. This exposes as much of the head as 
can be seen at one view, and the leaves as left pro- 
tect the margin from bruises. The butt should be 
cut off smooth, and there should be left about two 
layers of leaves 



PACKING. 



i:. 



The heads at the time of packing should be free 
from moisture, and if the leaves are a trine wilted 
they will pack all the better. Flour barrels, or 
barrels of that size, arc best to pack in, as cauli- 
flowers arc now usually sold at wholesale by the 
barrel. Barrel crates of the same size are also 
coming into use, especially for the early crop, as 
the heads are liable to heat in hot weather if packed 
in close barrels. Each cauliflower at the time of 
packing is now usually wrapped in Btrong -"ft 
white paper, the edges of the paper being tacked 
between the leaves ami head The heads are theD 
placed in the barrel-, commencing at the outside, 
Laying them npoD their Bides facing in, and filling 
the center with smaller head-. Continue each Laj er 
in this way until the barrel is a little more than 
full. Park a- solid as possible. Cover with can- 
vass or bagging, putting it under tin- top h<><.p and 
pressing it down by driving down and nailing the 
hoop. Tea chest matting, which usually costs noth- 
ing, may be used for covers if desired. 

It may be added that cauliflowers are sometimes 
packed in their own Leaves, just as they come from 
the field, or all the Leaves may be removed but one 
or two which are to be folded over the head. It 
usually pays, however, to use paper, but this must 
be white, or else when bruised it will stain the 
heads. 



46 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Sometimes, when the cauliflowers are to be sold 
at retail, sugar- barrels are used to pack in, as they 
cost less than other barrels and are larger. They 
are always clean and sweet, and do not make too 
large a package, as cauliflowers are not heavy. 

Small slatted crates are also a favorite package 
in which to ship cauliflowers, particularly early in 
the season. Large crates, such as are sometimes 
used for cabbages, are entirely unsuitable. 

A method of packing cauliflowers for shipment 
employed in Denmark, is described as follows: 
" The heads are to be cut off in a dry state, but not 
wilted, and with only an inch of stalk. The leaves 
are to be removed, with the exception of a couple 
of the inner courses, which should be cut down to 
such a length as to meet when they are bent gently 
together over the head. Pack in clean, open neat- 
looking crates or boxes, in the bottom of which put 
a few leaves, and on these the cauliflower heads, 
which should be of a uniform size for each crate. 
Pack closely and firmly in layers, taking care, how- 
ever, not to bruise the tender heads. All the heads 
in a layer should turn in the same direction, being 
laid sidewise, and the next layer in the opposite 
direction, respectively, with top and stem. On the 
top of the heads fill in with leaves until the cover 
will press the whole contents so tight as to prevent 
the heads from moving during transportation.'' 



SELLING. 47 

The price of cauliflowers is less subject to fluct- 
uation than that of most other vegetables. There 
is comparatively little competition between different 
localities, and about the only causes of low pi 
arc temporary and local over- product ion. and Forced 
sales can-'', i by damaged stock. One year with 
another, a dollar and a half a do/en may be realized 
•on good which is more than double the ; 

age price of cabbages. < cts are taken, how- 

ever, at as Low as fifty cent isuppl^ pickle- 

factories. Under favorable conditions fully 
a percentage of cauliflowers will head as of cabbi 
bo i liat in a good local ion, with proper care, t be cauli- 
flowei crop is a profitable on.-. It may be well to 
remind growers, however, that one should not attempt 
t<> sell a Large quantity of cauliflowers in a small 
market, for even at a low pri< pie will no' buy 

Largely <>f what they are not accustomed t<> n- 
But it is surprising t<> what an extent a market may 
he developed for this vegetable. No one who has 
once used the cauliflower will thereafter do without 
it. if it can be obtained at a reasonable price. There 
is absolutely no necessary limit to the market for 
this vegetable, providing reasonable care is exerc 
in creating ami supplying the demand. The price 
in this country on id n always to he maintained if pos 
sible at at least double that of cabbages, not only on 
account of the greater delicacy of the cauliflower, 



48 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

but because of the greater care needed in its pro- 
duction, and the uncertainty of the crop, owing to 
unfavorable seasons and other causes. I could 
easily quote examples of extraordinary profits made 
in growing the cauliflower, as well as instances of re- 
peated failure. Cases of both kinds of experience 
are given elsewhere in the present volume. I have 
here only attempted to show what may be reasonably 
expected. 

KEEPING. 

More attention is being paid of late years to the 
keeping of cauliflowers in winter, and it is now 
customary with some to plant a small late crop for 
the purpose of winter heading. Most growers, 
however, will have more or less unheaded plants at 
the end of nearly every season which can be used 
for this purpose. 

AVilliam Falconer, of Long Island, sows Extra 
Early Erfurt about July 1, pots the young plants, 
and sets them in the open field after early potatoes 
have come off. In November the plants that show 
signs of heading are stripped of the larger outer 
leaves, then taken up and set close together in 
beds and covered with hot -bed sash. In cold 
weather straw or thatch is added. In this way the 
plants continue to give heads until February. 
Plants which have begun to head may be taken up 
in the same way and set in a cellar. Just enough 



KEEPING. 



49 



moisture should be given to keep them from wilt- 
ing, as, if too much is given, they are liable to rot. 
Fully headed cauliliowers are difficult to keep. If 
hung up in a cellar in the way cabbages are fre- 
quently kept, they wilt and become strong in tlavor 
and dark in color. This may be remedied with a 
few heads by cutting off th<> Btem a few inches 
below the head before they are hung up, hollowing 
out the stem and filling the hollow with water. It 
is sai<l that the heads will keep in good condition 
for a long time if packed in Blightly damp muck. 
A simple way of preserving partly headed plants 
out of doors is to take them ap with as much earth 
as possible and «-\ fchem close together in trenches, 
after the manner <>f celery, placing boards at the 
Bides, and in cold weather a covering <>f Btraw over- 
head. In this waj the heads arc easily accessible 
and keep in good condition. 

A method employed in Scotland Cor preserving 
cauliflower is t<> bury them in a dry place, heads 
downward and roots exposed, in the ordinary man- 
ner of burying cabbages. They are said to keep 
well by this method from November to January. 
The leaves are folded over the heads to keep them 
from coming in contact with the soil. 

Another method, employed in Denmark, is to 
make a bed of moist sand about four inches deep 
in a cool room protected against frost; the lioor 



50 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

had better be of asphalt, cement or the like. 
Toward the end of autumn the heads are cut with 
a piece of the stem three or four inches in length, 
which is stuck into the sand. All the leaves are 
removed except the inner course, which must be 
cut down pretty closely, and the heads then covered 
with flower pots. 

Still another method, employed where hard 
freezing is not anticipated, is to take up the plants 
and set them out in a slanting position close 
together out of doors with the heads to the north, as 
is done with cabbages. 

Pulling up the plants and throwing them on 
their sides will protect the heads from a moderate 
degree of cold, and can be resorted to upon the 
sudden approach of cold weather. Cutting the 
heads with plenty of leaves and throwing them in 
long low heaps, faces dowmward, will preserve 
them in the cool, damp weather of early winter for 
a considerable time, and the heads, even in this 
condition, will increase somewhat in size. 

It will sometimes happen, early in the season, 
that one desires to retard the development of the 
head until a convenient time for marketing. For 
this purpose the plants may be lifted, when the 
heads, are nearly mature, and set under a shed or 
elsewhere in the shade. 

It may be well here to remind those who grow 



KEEPIX'.. 51 

only a few plants in a garden, and who wish to 
prolong the season, that Beveral cuttings may be 
taken from a single head if desired A portion of 
the head should be left each time. Occasionally, 
but not often, a stump will sprout and form a sec- 
ond crop. A method ting the formation 
of heads, which is practiced ra Ireland, may also be 
worth recording. It consists in slitting the stalk 
from ncai- the ground upward toward tin 1 hi 
and placing a -tick in the -lit to prevent the | 

reuniting. The -"il is then drawn up around the 
cut. and the plant staked to prevent it- breaking 
off. It is said that plants latedwill form their 

heads from six \<> eight day- earlier than they 
Otherwise WOUld. 



CIIAI'TKU IV. 



THE EARLY CROP. 

I cann<»t do hetter in treating of this crop than 
to first quote the following, by the late Peter Hen- 
derson, of New York City, from his work on *'Gar- 
dening for Pleasure ": 

"There is quite an ambition among amateur 
gardeners to raise early cauliflower, but as the con- 
ditions necessary to -u ss with this are noi quite 

asy t»> command as with most other vegetables, 
probably not on.' m three who try it succeed. In 
England, and mosl places on the Continent of 
Europe, it i- the most valued of all vegetables, and 
is grown there nearly a- easily as early oabbaj 
But it must be remembered that the temperature 
there is on the average ten degrees lower at the 
time it matures (June i than with us: t esides, their 
atmosphere is much more humid, two conditions 
essential to its proper development I will briefly 
state how early cauliflowers can be most success- 
fully growu here. First, the soil must be well 
broken, ami pulverized by spading to at least a foot 
in depth, mixing through it a layer of three or four 
inches of strong well rotted stable manure. The 
plants may be either those from seed sown last fall 



54 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

and wintered over in cold frames, or else started 
from seeds sown in January or February in a hot- 
bed or greenhouse, and planted in small pots or 
boxes, so as to make plants strong enough to be set 
out as soon as the soil is fit to work, which, in this 
latitude, is usually the first week in April. We are 
often applied to for cauliflower plants as late as 
May, but the chances of their forming heads when 
planted in May are slim indeed. The surest way 
to secure the heading of cauliflowers is to use what 
are called hand-glasses. These are usually made 
about two feet square, which gives room enough 
for three or four plants of cauliflower until they are 
so far forwarded that the glass can be taken off. 
When the hand-glass is used the cauliflowers may 
be planted out in any warm border early in March 
and covered by them. This covering protects them 
from frost at night, and gives the necessary increase 
of temperature for growth during the cold weeks 
of March and April; so that by the first week in 
May, if the cauliflower has been properly hardened 
off by ventilating (by tilting up the hand-glasses 
on one side) they may be taken off altogether and 
then used to forward tomatoes, melons or cucum- 
bers. If the weather is dry the cauliflowers will 
be much benefitted by being thoroughly soaked 
with water twice or thrice a week. * * * 
The two best varieties of cauliflower we have 



THE EARLY CROP. 00 

found as yet [l v 7o] are the Dwarf Erfurt and 
Early Pari 

Notwithstanding the quired for tin 1 early 

crop, the same writer states in his earliei work on 
" Gardening for Profit," (published in L867,during 
a period of high prices,) that "for the past four or 
five 3 sauliflow* rs ( early ] have been one of my 

profii rops. I have, during that time, 

grown about o ch year, which has cer- 

tainly averaged $1,500. On one occasion the crop 
proved almost an entire failure owing to unusual 
drought in May; while, on another occasion, with 
an unusual!} favorable seasonj it Bold at nearly 
►00 per acre, I?he average price for all planted 
is about >l r > per 1" '. and as from L0,000 to L2,000 
are grown to the acre, it will result in Dearly the 
avert . fore named $1,1 • • Unlike 

cabbages, however, onlj a Limited number is 
yet sold, and 1 have found that an acre of 
them has been quite as much as could be profitably 
grown in one garden." 

Tin- above, by tin- late weU known New Xbrk 
Beedsman and market gardener, though written 
nearly forty years ago, LS true to day. BO far as the 
general profitableness of the cauliflower is concerned, 
and the extra care required with the early crop. 

The chief coudition of success with early cauli- 
flowers is that they shall head before hot weather 



56 THE CAULIFLOWEB. 

comes on. To this end the earliest varieties are 
chosen, and they are set as early as possible in 
the spring, and pushed rapidly forward, as stated, 
by using protection if necessary, and by high 
manuring. It is an advantage to set the early 
plants between ridges, as is done with early 
cabbage. The ridges hold the sun and keep off the 
cold winds, and the furrows between carry off the 
surface water. The plants are best set upon the 
south or east side of the ridges, near the base. A 
good furrow with an ordinary plow forms a suffi- 
cient ridge. 

Formerly it was thought necessary to start the 
plants in the fall, but since the newer early sorts 
have been produced, this is being abandoned. Fall 
sowing has never been as successful in the Northern 
United States as in England, and the failures to 
grow cauliflowers successfully in this country have 
often resulted from adhering to the methods em- 
ployed in the Old World. Plants started in 
hot-beds in February, and properly hardened off, 
receive but little check when set out, and make a 
better growth than those which have been wintered 
over. 

In the latitude of Virginia and Maryland, winter- 
ing over the young plants may be resorted to, and 
for gardeners in that latitude the methods adopted 
in England will be well worth studying, even if 



BUTTONING. 57 

they can not be literally followed. The time for 
sowing the seed should be so gauged that the plants 
shall be neither too large nor too small during the 
coldest months. If too small they will not be suf- 
ficiently hardy to winter over; if too large they will 
be likely to button instead of forming fully devel- 
oped heads. 

When the young plant- are transplanted into 
their winter quarters they should be sel deeply, as 
the stem is the part most easily injured by cold; 
the same rule of planting deeply should 1><- followed 
in the first plantings in the open ground in spring. 

Wintering in the open air in a warm sheltered 
situation is preferable, where it can be done, to 
wintering under frames, for plant- bo exposed will 
be most healthy and will continue their growth with 

least interrupt ion in the Bpiing. 

Plants wintered under glass require considerable 
room, and as much air as ran be safely given If 
pots are need, can' must be taken not to have them 
too small, or to allow them to become entirely filled 

with the roots, for this will have a tendency to cause 
the plants to button. 

l.i [TONING. 

I cannot perhaps do better than to mention here 

Mich other causes as have this same tendency. 

Anything which checks the growth of the plants 

when they are a few inches high is liable to pro- 

4 



58 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

duce this result — such as leaving them too long in 
the seed-bed, withholding water, poor soil, too 
much crowding. After the plants are set out, a 
cold rainy time or badly drained land may have 
the same effect; also a very hot time, if the soil is 
dry and the plants are not growing well. The 
check occasioned by the transplanting may also 
cause the plants to button, if they have become 
large, and the soil or weather is unfavorable. On 
this account it is unsafe to let cauliflower plants 
get as large as cabbage plants sometimes are when 
transplanted. 

I will close this topic by quoting two paragraphs 
from The Garden, an English journal from which 
I have already taken much valuable information. 
The first is by a person who signs himself " D. T. 
F.," who says: 

"Cambrian [a previous writer] attributes this to 
over- manuring, and no doubt this frequently causes 
buttoning, but over- frosting is quite as injurious as 
over- manuring; and the hard frost which we had 
here on the 1st of April seems to be sending all the 
exposed plants into buttons, whilst those protected 
only with glass lights seem safe and sound and are 
spreading their leaves wide and looking extremely 
promising." 

The next writer, Mr. Gilbert, adds: 

" The whole of my Early London cauliflowers 



BUTTONING. 5 ( .» 

have buttoned, but not the Walcheren, at least at 
present. I hear, too, this is the case in many parts 
of the country. I have for years noted that after a 
cold severe winter and a warm spring both cauli- 
flowers and cabbages ' bolt, 9 but this season having 
been quite the reverse I thought they might have 
escaped." 

Another writer calls attention to the fact that 
plants which have been nursed or protected too 
much during winter are more apt to button when 
set out in the spring than those which have been 
more exposed. 



CHAPTEE V. 



CAULIFLOWER REGIONS OF THE UNITED 
STATES. 
A comparativel} Bmall portion of the United 
States is well adapted to the growth of cauliflower. 
The climate for the most part Lb too dry. The 
districts suited to its cultivation are often of very 
limited area, and are determined by local causes 
affecting the distribution of mofeture and the char- 
• of the Boil. The manner of treating the crop, 
and the degree of care neceesarj for successful 
results, will therefore depend largely onthelocality 
where it is grown. For the purpose of giving 
more definite information on these points, the 
country may be divided into the following cauli- 
flower regions: 

'I'M : vri.wrn i OAST. 

This includes tin- greatesi Dumber of Localities 
where cauliflower culture has thus Ear been success 
fully conducted in the United States. Tin- region 
is comparatively well watered, and contains a great 
diversity of -oil an. I situation. More good mar- 
kets ate found here than dst-where. The heart of 
this cauliflower region is now found upon the north 



62 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

shore of Long Island, where there is a strong soil, 
in a damp climate, within easy reach of the New 
York and other large markets. Two crops are 
grown here, the spring and fall. Wm. Falconer, 
of Queen's County, states that for the early crop 
he sows the seed in a hot-house in February, and 
gradually gives the plants more room and cooler 
quarters until they are ready for the open ground. 
The varieties he uses are Henderson's Snowball, 
Early Erfurt, Stadtholder and Lenormand. He 
has repeatedly attempted to grow the spring crop 
from fall- sown plants, but they have almost invari- 
ably buttoned, however late the seed was sown, or 
however slightly the plants were protected. Occa- 
sionally, also, the February- sown plants of Hender- 
son's Snowball and Erfurt will button. 

For the main fall crop the same four varieties 
above mentioned are sown out of doors about May 
18th, at the time of sowing late cabbage. For a 
later crop he makes another sowing a month later. 
These last usually begin to head about the last of 
November and are taken up and protected to fur- 
nish a supply during the winter. Mr. C. E. Swezey, 
of Suffolk County, says that more money is undoubt- 
edly made to the acre on cauliflower than anv other 
crop. • He finds the early crop the most profitable, 
although the most expensive. For this crop he 
uses seventy- five tons of the best horse manure per 



THE OTPBB ATLANTIC COAST. 63 

acre, and for the late crop about half that amount. 
The variety he prefers is Henderson's Snowball, 
this with the Early Erfurt being the only kinds he 

Francis Brill, in his book on ''Farm Gardening 
and Seed Growing," said, in L872," For the past two 
years the farmers of the east end of Long Island, 
especially about the village of Mattituck. have 
plants I Largely of cauliflower, being incited by the 
successful experiments of Borne who have remo 
here from the wot end, who were formerly engaj 
in rrowing vegetables for the New York markets. 

flic past 'i the crop has BtlCi Led admirably. 

and Large profits have been realized by growers in 
this vicinity, and this by men, many of wh«m are 
inexperienced in the cultivation of this or any other 
vegetable for market; and. moreover, the most of it 
was gprown at the worst possible Beason of the year. 
\ general rule cauliflowers do not Buoceed well 
on old land, and much of the land hereabouts is Q6W, 
and but Little of it indeed has cy.t been used for 
cabbages or anything of this nature. But beyond 
a doubt it is the humid Baline atmo-phere of this 
section which makes the cultivation of this vege- 
table a success. Protracted drouths are here almost 
unknown, and even during the temporary absence 
of rain in the summer months the air does not seem 
so dry and withering, so to speak, as in sections 



64 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

more remote from the ocean, the Sound and the 
great salt water bays by which we are surrounded." 
The varieties he mentions are Early Erfurt and 
Early Paris for the first crop, the Nonpareil and 
[or] Half Early Paris for a succession, with Lenor- 
mand and Walcheren for late. 

The same author, in his work entitled ' Cauli- 
flowers and How to Grow Them," published in 1886, 
says : " The cultivation of cauliflower in the eastern 
towns of Suffolk County, N. Y., familiarly known 
as the east end of Long Island, was begun at Matti- 
tuck about sixteen years ago, upon a small scale, as an 
experiment, by one or two gardeners from the west 
end who were formerly engaged in growing vege- 
tables for New York markets. The success which at- 
tended these experiments, and the subsequent efforts 
of some of our farmers, who by reason of reported 
great profits, were induced to take up the cultivation 
of this crop, has been an incentive to others, until at 
the present time an East End farm without an acre 
or more of cauliflower is an exception, while in the 
towns of Riverhead and Southold many farmers 
grow from five to fifteen acres each, and in the 
other towns of Suffolk County the business is largely 
on the increase. As a rule the crop has done well, 
subject of course to the ravages of insects, drouths, 
etc., which have at times been serious drawbacks; 
especially was this the case in 1884, when the crop 



THE UPPER ATLANTIC COAST. 05 

was almost a total failure, but never before had we 
experienced such a protracted drouth or such an 
abundance of insects of every known species, and 
only those who were in advance of the drouth, or 
who had sown seed very late, succeeded in getting 
head> for market, but the few who were thus situ- 
ated received almost fabulous prices for their pro- 
duct." The following year he Bays the crop was 
remarkably successful, more than L00,000 barrels 
being shipped from Suffolk county to the New 
York markets during the months «»f October and 
November. "Prices this year have ranged from 
ten dollar- early in tl u down to one dollar 

and twenty-five cents a barrel during the glut, when 
Large quantities were sold t«» picklers at one cent 
per pound for dean trimmed clear curd or flower. 
A- b rule early and very late oauliflowers bring the 
best pi ■ Experience has 

taught as that stable manure applied at the time of 
planting, except for the earliest spring crop, is often 
injurious, and I advise applying stable manure 
plentifully to the crop of the preceding year, or 
otherwise let it be turned under at the fall plowing, 
or if well rotted at the first Bpring plowing, and at 
the time of planting apply commercial fertilizers, 
or. as the\ are sometimes called, patent manure-. 
using whatever brand you may have the most con- 
fidence in. The competition between manufactur- 



66 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

ers has become so great that all are compelled to 
be at least partially honest, and several prepare a 
special fertilizer for cauliflower and cabbage which 
works admirably. Oar best growers all use Ger- 
man potash salts, or Kainit, about 13 per cent, 
actual potash, one ton to the acre; or sulphate of 
potash, equal to 27 per cent, actual potash; or muri- 
ate of potash, equal, to 45 per cent, actual potash, 
about one half a ton to the acre. The relative cost 
per ton, of these is $16.00 for Kainit, $38.00 for 
sulphate and $45.00 for muriate — these are pres- 
ent prices, but the market is subject to fluctuations. 
These should be evenly applied broadcast and 
turned under at the spring plowing, and from one 
half a ton to one ton of fertilizer to the acre should 
be applied in the same manner on the surface, and 
harrowed in at the last preparation of the soil. Of 
late many have been using fish guano, which is the 
scrap or flesh and bone refuse from the Menhaden oil- 
rendering establishments, in connection with potash 
salts, with excellent results ; in fact Captain Edward 
Hawkins, of Jamesport, one of our most successful 
growers, uses nothing else, applying one ton of 
each to the acre. Very good cauliflowers have been 
grown by opening furrows, placing the fertilizer 
therein, and covering so as to form ridges; but I 
advise broadcast manuring and flat cultivation for 
this crop, as I am fully convinced that one acre in 



THE UPPER ATLANTIC COAST. f ) ( 

proper shape and condition will pay much better 
than two acres only half fertilized Pun 1 , tine 
ground bone, one ton to the acre, plowed under will 
be found beneticial. especially so in carrying the 
plants out at the time of heading, but it is scarcely 
stimulating enough for the early requirements of 
the plants. Well rotted stable manure may be used 
to advantage, freshly applied and plowed under, for 
early spring planting of cold-frame or hot-bed plants 
which are expected to mature before extremely hot- 
drj weather, but it has do Bpecial advani oept 

to warm up the soil. * The great crop 

with as is during the months of October and NO 
vember, for which Beed is sown Erom May L5 to 
June 25, and the plant- sel Erom the middle of June 
to the 1 .• i - 1 of August according to the kind." The 
varieties named for Bpring planting are. " Erfurt 
Extra Dwarf Earliest," and ••Small Leaved Er- 
furt," both being also good for the fall crop, the 
latter for this crop being sown as Late as July 1st. 
The Algiers, a standard sori for fall, is bowd from 
May L5 to June 1. .Mr. Brill adds: " Every 
known sort has been tested by our growers, and I 
have had in one field eighty Bix samples, comprising 
every known variety and sub-variety often repeated, 
grown from seed procured from every possible 
source, and with the exception of one or two sorts, 
which have done well under peculiarly favorable con- 



68 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

ditions and circumstances, all have been positively 
condemned except those above named." The varie- 
ties referred to are the Dwarf Erfurt strains (in- 
cluding Henderson's), the Algiers, and the Early 
and Half Early Paris- — the latter two being now 
superceded by the former. 

C. H. Allen, in the Americayi Agriculturist for 
1889, page 297, says: "No section of the United 
States seems so well adapted to the growing of the 
cauliflower as the northeastern part of Long Island, 
N. Y. For the earliest crop a piece of heavy sod 
ground is plowed during the month of April. It is 
then spread with fish scrap at the rate of one ton to 
the acre, which is thoroughly harrowed in. A strip 
is then prepared for sowing seed, by raking the 
ground until it is in good condition ; the first sowing 
of seed is made May 15. The seed for the main 
crop is sown ten to twenty days later. When the 
plants are ready to set the ground is again plowed 
in an opposite direction from the first plowing and 
then spread with muriate of potash at the rate of half 
a ton to the acre, or if fish scrap cannot be pro- 
cured, some standard fertilizer is used after the 
second plowing without the addition of muriate of 
potash. The Early Dwarf Erfurt and Snowball are 
the most popular varieties. The Algiers has been 
largely used, but for the past two or three seasons 
lias done very poorly, and will not be grown in the 



THE UPPER ATLANTIC COAST. 69 

future. The plants are set three feet apart each 
way. This applies to Erfurt and Snowball: Algiers 
requires the rows four feet apart." 

The American Garden for 1889, page 59, says: 
"Almost nine tenths of all the cauliflowers that come 
to the New York market are grown in Suffolk County 
on Long Island, and this industry is Bald to bring 
about $20 1,0 N » a year to the county. Success with 
cauliflower culture has been very indifferent in 

other parts of Long [sland and elsewhere where 
tried." 

A New Jersey market gardener described his ex- 
perience as follow- a few years ago in the New Yorb 
Tribune: "Among the many uncertain crop-, the 
cauliflower stands prominent, for rery often under 
the best culture, it fails to produce a head on an 
acre, although the usual outlay for preparing and 
manuring the ground preparatory to planting will 
l>e at least twice as much as for a crop of late cab- 
bage. Lut when a full crop of cauliflower is raised, 
the profits will average three times that of the 
cabbage in the same market. This being the case, it 
is not strange that every means known to the pro- 
fession should be resorted to with the hope of get- 
ting year after year maximum crops of this vege- 
table. But, as yet, no plan has been discovered, 
under our burning July and August sun, that will 
make cauliflower head with certainty every season. 



70 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Any practical man, with strong ground well ma- 
nured, can every now and then raise a crop of cauli- 
flower. But this partial success one year does very 
often prove a decided loss in the long run, for the 
reason that it often happens three times the amount 
realized from this crop will be spent in the attempt 
to raise another just like it, with the determination 
not to give up. This has been my experience, 
although the experiments are made now on a much 
smaller scale than formerly. Last year I set out 
2,500 plants, and only marketed 500 from the patch; 
the failure was owing to late planting. To avoid 
any such mistake this year, the ground was made 
ready for planting early in July, and by the middle 
of the month some 1,800 plants set out. The 
ground in this case was richer and more mellow at 
the time of plantiDg than last year, and the culti- 
vation was about the same. At first these plants 
grew vigorously, but late in August they were 
checked from some unknown cause, and from this 
check they did not recover. Some of the lower leaves 
had turned yellow and dropped off, leaving the 
stalks almost bare, while others have made do new 
growth since. Judging from present appearances, 
there will not be twenty five sizeable heads out of 
the 1,800 planted. This is rather discouraging, 
but one has to take the good with the bad in farm- 
ing or gardening. Too late to remedy the error it 



THE LAKE REGION. , 1 

was found that the variety planted was Walcheren 
instead of the Erfurt, a variety that has given me 
more profitable returns for the last six years than 
any other, unless it ma\ 1).' the Half Early Paris." 

In New England the crop is more uncertain than 
on Long Island. W. H. Bull, of Hampden County. 
Massachusetts, finds the crop profitable about one 
year in three. Formerly, ho says, when cauli- 
flowers were a oew thing, anj kind of a head would 
sell, but now only the best will bring a paying 
price. The loose, leafy, purple, or otherwise dis- 
colored heads produced in hot, dry weather, are 
hardlj worth hauling t<> market He finds the 
Extra Earl) Erfuri about a- good as Henderson's 
Snowball. He BOWS the seed in Aprii for a fall 
crop. If -own after the first week in .May the 
plants fail to head before frost 

Around Boston the cauliflower is grown quite 
successfully, and. as elsewhere stated, seed is 
occasionally produced there. The variety formerly 
grown for the main crop was an improved form of 
Early Paris, called Boston Market, but this is now 
displaced by the new Extra Early Erfurt strains. 
It may be mentioned here that around Montreal 
the fall crop is very successfully grown. 

THE EAKE REGION. 

In the region of the Great Lakes there are 
many localities having a suitable soil in which 



72 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

cauliflower may be grown to good advantage. The 
moist atmosphere, which renders much of this 
region so well adapted to the cultivation of fruit, 
favors the growth of the cauliflower. In this 
region the fall crop is the one mainly grown, and 
the half- early varities, such as Early Paris and 
Early London have been chiefly used, though the 
earlier Erfurt varities are now largely grown. 

Detroit, Grand Rapids, and other Michigan 
cities are comparatively well supplied with home- 
grown cauliflower. 

In Western Michigan there is considerable high, 
rolling land, of a deep loamy character, covered 
originally with a heavy growth of hard-wood timber. 
It was on such land as this, in Ottawa County, that 
the writer grew cauliflower very successfully 
between the years 1870 and 1884. The land had 
but recently been cleared of its timber, and it sel- 
dom received any other fertilizer than the heavy 
June- grass sod which was turned under. The 
method of preparing the ground was the same as 
for any other farm crop, and the plants, mainly of 
the Early Paris variety, were set out about the last 
of June, usually four feet apart each way. They 
were given good care, and generally began to head 
in September, at the time of the autumnal equinox, 
when there is usually a week or two of cool, rainy 
weather. Following this, early in October, there 



THE LAKE REGION. 73 

are generally a few hard frosts which injure some 
of the heads if they are not kept well covered and 
closely cut. The main cauliflower season then 
comes on, running through October and the first 
half of November. In a warm, late Beason nearly 
all the plants will have headed, and the heads have 
been sold before cold weather, but when winter comes 
on early, a portion of the plants will be Btill unde- 
veloped; these arc either gathered and stored, as 
elsewhere described, or used for feeding stock. My 
crop was marketed at Grand Rapids and Chicago, 
and was considered the finest sent to either of those 
cities. In excellence was attributed mainly to the 
deep new fertile Boil, which never Buffered from 
drouth under proper cultivation, and to the moist 
climate, due to the surrounding forests and the 
proximity to Lake Michigan. 

At South lliivi'ii. on the immediate shore of Lake 
Michigan, the upland is mainly too heavy for the best 
growth of cauliflower. Mr. Sheffer Bays: i .Mich. 
Ag. Hep. l^ sv \ p. 287 ) "We have the advantage 
of cheap lands, cheap transportation to a boundless 
market, and a moisl climate, all making celery and 
canlitlower desirable crops. For cauliflower, the 
proper soil is the first essential. If planted on 
uplands it will fail nine times out of ten, unless set 
so late as to head up jusl before winter. But it is 
better to grow it on low wet soils that can be ditched 
5 



74 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

and the crop headed earlier. It can be marketed 
as far away as Philadelphia." 

In Kent County, with which I am familiar, the 
cauliflower is successfully cultivated by many 
gardeners, but, as the air is drier, more care is 
required there in selecting the soil, the crop being 
usually grown on bottom lands favorably situated 
with regard to moisture, and containing an abund 
ance of vegetable matter. It is occasionally grown 
on muck, but such land is not as reliable as that of 
a heavier character. On the light, sandy, and 
gravelly uplands, which abound in this county, the 
cultivation of the cauliflower is seldom attempted, 
and always fails, except in unusually wet seasons, 
although when such land is heavily manured, the 
eabbage may be grown successfully. 

At Duluth, Minnesota, near the western end of 
Lake Superior, I have seen as fine cauliflowers 
growing as I ever saw anywhere. The soil was 
black loamy, upland. 

Mr. J. S. Brocklehurst, of Oneota, in the same 
county, considers his locality unsurpassed for the 
cauliflower. 

In Northern Wisconsin there is considerable ter- 
ritory which is excellent for cauliflower. In 1890, 
the first, second and third prizes offered by James 
Vick, for the best heads of Vick's Ideal were all 
awarded to growers in Eau Clare County, Wisconsin. 



THE LAKE REGION. 75 

The recent introduction of very early varities is 
likely to have an important result in extending the 
cultivation of the cauliflower, in the extreme North- 
ern States and Canada, where the soil and climate 
are in many places peculiarly adapted to it. but 
where the seasons axe jo short that it has not here- 
tofore beeD successfully grown. 

Around ( Shicago much of the soil is unsurpassed 
for tin's vegetable, and Large quantities of it are 
grown, but not enough to supply its local demand. 

The most successful cultivators of this vegetable 
near Chicago are the market gardeners in the 
Holland settlement south of the city, and the ( ler 
mans od the north. All arc more successful with 
the Late crop than with the early. One of the mosl 
successful of these growers sometimes Bets his 
plant- as Late as the first of August, using seed 
direct from friends in Holland. 

In Mahoning ( lountg . ( >hio, which may be included, 
tor convenience, in the Lake Region, Mr. Milton, 
who male'- a specialty of the cauliflower, states that 
it i- a good paying crop, hut requires high cultiva- 
tion, and if possible a moist -oil. He -tat.- that 
he has tried all the varieties in cultivation, and finds 
a great difference in seed of the same variety from 
different growers. For the early crop he one year 
plauted Henderson's Snowball, extra selected Early 
Erfurt, and Tick's Ideal, and found, owing to a 



76 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

drouth which set in just as the heads began to 
form, that the last variety was the only one which 
gave paying heads. For a late crop he generally 
uses Half-Early Paris, but has had good success 
with Algiers in a warm season. This variety must 
be started very early, however, in order to head 
before winter. 

THE PRAIRIE REGION. 

Prairie soil is usually well adapted to the cauli- 
flower, and in favorable seasons a good crop is ob- 
tained, but such seasons are so little to be depended 
on in this region that cauliflower culture on a large 
scale is only profitable here under irrigation, or in 
restricted localities where the soil is naturally 
moist. 

The gardeners around St. Louis have good suc- 
cess in growing cauliflower on the bottom land. 
Professor L. R. Taft says, " During two of the 
years I lived in Missouri it was very hot and dry 
and on the heavy clay soil of most of the state 
cauliflower, as a field crop, was a failure. I had 
good success, however, by planting one foot apart 
in cold frames from which lettuce had been taken; 
they were watered as required and during the hot- 
test weather were protected to some extent by 
means of lath screens." 

One disadvantage in this uncertainty of a crop 
in the West is its effect upon the market. A pro- 



THE PRAIRIE REGION. <T 

duct which is rarely seen in the market brings a 
low price when abundant and fails to bring a high 
price in times of scarcity. Few people use it. and 
these «lo not become so accustomed to it as to be 
willing to pay a high price for it when it is scarce. 

Mr. Riche, of Iowa, tells in a report of the [owa 
Horticultural 8 how, in 1 S M. he i eked 

the Dubuqne market with 8006 head-. A Mr. 
Smith relates how, a few years previous, he was 
obliged to Bel] K> heads for a little over o .•• cent 
per head; yet in this same market more familiar 
products often bring high prices. Another Iowa 
gardener grew a field of cauliflower by mistake, 
having purchased the seed For cabbage, and found 
himself unable to Bell the crop at all! 

In the irrigated districts of the West, cauliflower 
rown i i perfection. ( >ne of the Lai s 

cauliflowers on record, four feet three inches in 
circumference, was grown in Colorado under irri- 
gation in 1881. A moist atmosphere is Less impor- 
tant than plent; iter at the root, especially at 
the time of heading, when it should be supplied, if 
3ible, in small amount every day. The some- 
what saline character of the -oil in the dry regions 
also favors the growth of this crop whenever a suf- 
ficient supply of water is given. 

At the Colorado experiment station, sixteen var- 
ieties were grown under irrigation in 1888 (see 



78 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

table under Variety Tests), of which Henderson's 
Snowball and Extra Early Erfurt gave the best 
results. At the Arkansas station, the following 
year, out of twelve varieties these two were the only 
ones that produced heads. At the South Dakota 
station, Henderson's Snowball and Haskell's Fav- 
orite, a variety apparently identical with it, gave 
good results. 

CAULIFLOWER IN THE SOUTH. 

The cauliflower, as a market crop, is tut little 
grow T n in the South, but there is no good reason 
why it should not become extensively cultivated 
there. The chief hindrances to its cultivation in 
the South have been the lack of high priced local 
markets, and the liability of the heads to heat dur- 
ing transportation to the North. 

The most favorable localities for growing this 
vegetable in the South are near the Gulf and 
Atlantic coasts, especially near the mouths of rivers 
where there is an alluvial soil and a moist atmos- 
phere. The cauliflower is better adapted than the 
cabbage to a warm climate, but heavier soil is 
required for it in the South than at the North. 

W. F. Massey, of the North Carolina experiment 
station, says that fall sown plants are the only ones 
worth growing in that latitude. The seed should 
be sown in September. The crop should head not 
later than March or April, as the heat is too great 



< UMFLOWER IN THE SOUTH. 79 

after April for good head-. By forcing, the plants 
may be headed in the frames in winter. More 
heat and \>. >n are Deeded for this than in 

merely keeping over the plant-. When the plants 
are approaching full size a light dressing of nitrate 
of soda raked into the soil : I to push them 

along and check any tendency to button. Lettuce 
is usually grown in the frames between the plants 
while small. 

Dr. A. Oemler,* of Savannah. Georgia, 
"If thi • delicate and most valuable member 

of the i a family, would ' c afely 

at locati cultivation, it would be 

one of the most important crops tor the truck 
farmer. Although so Bituated, I have abandoned 

ilture, notwithstanding I have netted 
a- $24.75 in New York per barrel for it. and the 
La or 'curds' have sold at i average of 

thirty seven cents each. Sometimes, however, it 
would continue to arrive in such bad order as not 
to be worth shipping. For the past two years its 
culture for the Northern market has been mainly 
confined to Florida. Com: much earlier 

there.it is not e I to heating in transit The 

* Dr. Oemler is the author of an t work 

entitled "Truck Farming in the South." His farm is 
on Wilmington Island, in the mouth of the Savannah 
River. 



80 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

best varieties are Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt, the 
Snowball, and the very large growing Algiers. It 
should be marketable in March and April. The 
seed therefore should be sown in the latitude of 
Savannah about December first, under glass, and 
the plants transplanted about January tenth." 

Dr. Charles Mohr, of Mobile, Alabama, writes: 
"From my own experience I judge that this vege- 
table does not succeed as w T ell in the southern part 
of this state as in its central and more northern 
parts. I have seen it raised of good quality in the 
gardens of Montgomery, and in the greatest per- 
fection in the highlands of north Alabama at an 
elevation of about 500 feet above the Gulf — at Cull- 
man, in a somewhat light loamy soil, well supplied 
with stable manure. In that locality the seeds are 
sown by the end of February in a cold frame, to 
allow protection of the young plants from frost, 
and the plants are transferred to the open land by 
the middle of March. They arrive at their perfection 
during the first half of the month of May. An- 
other sowing is made during the first week of 
March to furnish a crop during the early part of 
June. In that locality this vegetable is raised only 
to meet a very limited home demand. My in- 
formant at Montgomery, who raises only a supply 
for his own use, writes: 'I have raised cauli- 
flower here with success for a series of years, some 



CAULTFLOWEB IN THE SOUTH. 81 

of the heads weighing six to seven pounds. The 
soil of my garden is a light sandy loam, requiring 
heavy manuring, and frequent irrigation of the 
plants toward the time of heading; it cannot be 
said to be exactly suited to this vegetable. I get 
my seed (the White Snowball) from Peter Hender- 
son, of New York, bow in December in hot-bed, 
transplant as soon as large enough to a c<.ld frame, 
and transplant as Boon as danger of frost is < 
^ay about the first part or middle of .March, to the 
open ground, which has been well prepared and 
manured with Btable manure. 1 cultivate the same 
as for cabbage, and the crop matures about the firsl 
of May.' 

••( )neof the most successful market gardeners and 
truck farmers in this vicinit) [Mobile], says: 'We 
have cultivated cauliflower for a long Beries of 
years, l»ut find it much less profitable than the 
raising of cabbage; first, on account of its tender - 
3, making it liable to be injured in transporta- 
tion to distant markets, and second, by reason of 
repeated failure of the crop in consequence of the 
too early advent of spells of hot and dry weather 

at the opening of the warm Beason. We bow in 
November in cold frame, keep well thinned out 
under glass until about the 20th of 'January, then 
transplant to the open ground, cultivating well 
with frequent watering if the weather should be 



82 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



dry. If the months of April and May are dry and 
hot the crop results in a failure, from which, in our 
dry and thirsty soil, no irrigation will save it. In 
favorable seasons we have fine results, raising 
heads from ten to sixteen inches in diameter. In 
the perpetually damp and inexhaustibly fertile soil 
of the alluvial lands in the Mobile River delta 
(marshes drained by ditching) the cauliflower is 
raised in the greatest perfection, and is ready by 
Christmas time for the home market, bringing 
fancy prices. In such localities the early varieties, 
particularly the Early Paris, are used, the seed be- 
ing sown in August. Outside of these marshes the 
early varieties are not grown, as they produce only 
small and meagre heads. Among the later vari- 
eties we find Algiers and Lenormand the best, 
buying the seed from Vilmorin in Paris.' " 

Mr. J. N. Whitner, in his work on " Gardening in 
Florida," recommends Early Snowball, Extra Early 
Paris, and Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt. The seed 
is sown in boxes in autumn and protected from 
beating rains, and if sown before the middle of 
October the plants are also protected from the 
direct sun during the middle of the day. The 
main crop is planted out before the first of Novem- 
ber, and harvested the following spring. In the 
northern portion of the state the plants are some- 
times injured by the cold in winter. The crop is 



»\u-Lir lower in the south. 



83 



not yet extensively grown in that state. In regard 
to suitable soil, Mr. Whitner 

"In this state almost every truck farmer has 
some low rich Bpo1 of l>ottom, lake or river margin 
suitable for the production of the cauliflower. It 
must, however, be well drained land, and ao matter 
how fertile it mav seem to be naturally, a liberal 
supply of manure will moi ainly insure hand- 

some flower heads." 

Mr, Frotzer, a New < ftrlea of 

the cauliflower: 

"This of the fines! vegetables grown, and 

succeeds well in the vicinity oi N< ■'.. Orleana I. 
< j iiani H iee are i ised on tl - • in the neigh- 

borhood of Barataria Bay. The two Italian varie- 
ties are of excellent quality, growing to lai 
and are considered hardier than the German and 
French varieties, [have had specimens brought 
to mj Btore, raised from Beed obtained from me, 
weighing en pounds. The ground for planting 

cauliflower should be very rich. They thrive besl 
in rich, sandy soil, and require plenty of moisture 
during the formation of the head. The Italian 
varietii — hould be -own from April till July: the 
latter month and June is the best time to sow the 
Early Giant. During August, September and Oc- 
tober, the Lenormand. Half Early Paris and Er- 
furt can be .sown. The Half Early Paris is very 



84 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

popular, but the other varieties are just as good. 
For spring crop the Italian kinds do not answer, 
but the Early French and German varieties can be 
sown at the end of December and during January, 
in a bed protected from frost, and may be trans- 
planted into the open ground during February and 
as late as March. If we have a favorable season, 
and not too dry, they will be very fine; but if the 
heat sets in soon, the flowers will not attain the 
same size as those obtained from seeds sown in 
fall, and which head during December and Janu- 
ary." 

In the Texas Farm and Ranch, H. M. String- 
fellow, of Hitchcock, Galveston County, gives an 
account of his success with American grown (Puget 
Sound) seed of Henderson's Snowball cauliflower. 
He says: 

" After two years careful trial, I have found this 
seed every way superior to the original imported 
stock, good as that was, for our hot climate. The 
plants are much more robust, make equally as 
compact but larger heads, and what is most re- 
markable, they mature here fully two weeks or more 
ahead of the imported seed. Nearly every plant 
will make a marketable head, and they always sell 
for fully double as much as cabbage. 

" These American seeds begin to head about the 
first of November, and are nearly all gone by 



CAULIFLOWER IN THE SOUTH. S5 

Christmas, which gives ample time to get the crop 
off in any part of Texas. 

''The cauliflower is emphatically a fall vegetable 
and seems to require for its perfect development a 
gradually decreasing temperature. The Beed bIk raid 
be sowed from the first to the fifteenth of July, in 
a frame. Make the ground very rich, and if you 
rise salt, which I consider almost rib essential for 
this crop, turn it under deeply at tic first plowing. 
In fact. -;ilt and potash had better 1"> deeply 
worked int.- the soil always, as it will not do for 
either t" come in contact with tin- roots of a newly 
-.•t plant. 

•• I'ntil recentl} 1 have always thought that it 
would injure a plant to set it in soil fco which cot- 
tonseed meal had \«-<-\i Lately applied. But exper 
intents made in the Last few weeks prove that it i- 
not only not injurious, bui that cabbage plants 
grow off with wonderful vigor when the meal was 
applied the daj before the plans were set. 

"It will pay to subsoil for cauliflower, in order to 

give them all the moisture possible, though they 

will stand a drouth in the fall equally as well as a 
cabbage." 

In this connection may he mentioned the follow- 
ing account of cauliflower growing at Durango, 
Mexico. sent to the Gardener's ('/tr<>iti<-l< in L853: 
The writer says: "Of the culinary vegetables, 



8Q THE CAULIFLOWER. 

none excel the cauliflower, which attains such a size 
that a single head measures 18 inches to 2 feet in 
diameter, and makes a donkey load. The gigantic 
cauliflower is not distinct from our European 
species, but is solely produced by a cultivation 
which necessity has dictated. Being one of the 
Northern vegetables that degenerate or bear no 
seed if not annually procured from Europe, it is 
propagated by cuttings. After the heads are 
gathered the stubs are allowed to throw out new 
shoots, which are again planted and have to grow 
two years, producing the second, the enormous 
heads." 

The following from Woodrow's " Gardening in 
India," (4th edition, Bombay, 1888), contains 
many interesting points of suggestive value for the 
the extreme South: 

" Cauliflower, being a delicate plant, always 
needs great care and attention in its cultivation, 
but much less care is necessary in this country 
than in Europe. The soil most suitable is a rich 
friable loam, such as occurs in the black soil of the 
Duccan, the alluvial tracts in the basin of the 
Ganges or Nerbudda. Thorough working of the 
soil is necessary, and in stations where the market 
price of cauliflower is usually over four annas per 
head, as is the case in many parts of Southern 
India, the crop is well worth extra care in the 



CAULDfLOWEB IX THE SOUTH. 87 

preparation of the soil. This process should be 
begun shortly after the rains, when the soil is easily 
plowed or dug. It should then be turned up 
roughly to a depth of a foot or tifteen inches. A 
month later the clods should be broken with the 
mallet oi clod crusher, and the plow put through 
the ground a second time When tin- -nil has 
weal a few weeks, the scarifier or cultivator 

should be i-iin over it once monthly until May. At 
that time good decayed cow dung or poudrette 
should be spread one inch deep, and any close 
growing crop which i- not valuable, Mich as sunn, 
tag, chanamoo, or Crotolaria should be 

sown to keep down weeds and encourage the forma 
tion of nitric acid in tin- - ril, which has been pr< 
t<> be effected t<» a greater extent under a crop than 
on bar.- soil. During dri weather in August the 

crop should be pulled up and the ground plowed 

or dug and the crop buried in the trenches t<> act 
preen manure, and the land prepared for irriga 

tion. 

The seed bed should be prepared by thorough 
digging and mixing about an inch in depth of old 
manure; wood ashes and decayed sweepings having 
a quantify of goat or sheep dung in it is well 
suited for the seed-bed at this season. Cow dung 
is apt to have the larva of the dung beetle in it — a 
very large caterpillar which destroys young plants 



88 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

by eating through the stem under ground. The 
bed having been thoroughly watered, the seed may 
be sown broadcast or in lines, and covered with a 
quarter of an inch of fine, dry, sandy soil, and 
shaded from bright sunshine. When the seedlings 
appear, gradually remove the shade. The most 
convenient form of bed is not more than four feet 
in width, the length being sufficient for the ground 
to be planted. One ounce of seed is sufficient for 
a bed fifty feet square, which will give sufficient 
plants for an acre if the seed is good. Sowing 
should be made once in ten days, from the middle 
of August till the end of September. If the garden 
has been neglected, or the district remarkable for 
the quantity of grubs that yearly come out in 
August, spread a considerable part of the garden 
with a thick coating of stable litter or dry leaves 
and burn it, prepare the seed bed in the middle of 
the burnt space, and soak two pounds of saltpetre 
in water for one hundred square feet, and water 
the bed with it for at least two weeks before sowing 
the seed. When the seedlings have acquired about 
five leaves, and the ground to plant is ready, lift 
the young plants gently on a cloudy day, and plant 
them out two and one-half feet apart each way. If 
brigh.t sunshine comes out, shade the newly moved 
plants with broad leaves, and water them daily 
with the watering pot for a few days, besides 



CAULIFLOWER IN THE SOUTH. 



89 



irrigating sufficiently to keep the soil moist. After- 
wards, hoeing, picking grubs and replacing the 
losses from the seed-bed must be attended to. 

The selection of sorts is a serious matter in cauli- 
flower culture, because many sorts grow only to 
leaves in some climates, and great loss has been 
met with by some people in consequence of getting 
the wrong variety. The variety known to English 
seedsmen as Large Asiatic, has established itself in 
the Northern Provinces, where a good head of 
cauliflower is procurable in December for one half 
anna. In Bombay the same would cos! ten times 
that sum. The Beed of this variety is remarkably 
cheap in the districts it bears Beed in. From 
Shajehanpore I bought Large quantities at Els. 2 

per pound, while the pri< I seed from England 

was R& 2 per ounce. This sort is perfectly reli- 
able when properly cultivated, but it is considered 
inferior in flavor and delicacy to English sorts, and 
its season is very short. It appears to run to seed 
when January comes, at whatever time it may have 
been sown, while English varieties come into use 
from the bee-inning of December to the end of 
February according to the date of sowing. 

Among European varieties, -uecess will gener- 
ally be met with by sowing Early London and 
Walcheren. The different Giant and Mammoth 

varieties advertised in seedsmen's catalogues should 
6 



90 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

be grown as extras, and if one is found to suit the 
soil and climate of a particular station, it may be 
grown more extensively afterwards; my experience 
with those varieties has not been happy." 

THE PACIFIC COAST. 

Fine early cauliflowers are grown in California 
under irrigation, and marketed as far east as 
Chicago. Oregon and Washington include a large 
area adapted to cauliflower growing, and this favor- 
able territory extends northward into Alaska. The 
cool, moist climate of the Upper Pacific coast 
resembles that of England, where cauliflowers are 
so extensively grown. 

There are few good markets yet in this region, 
hut the rapid growth of the cities which exist 
affords promise of a large future demand for this 
vegetable, which is likely to come into more general 
use as it becomes better known. 

Professor E. R. Lake, of the Oregon experiment 
station, states that some parts of the Oregon coast 
are well adapted to the cauliflower, but that other 
interests and lack of transportation facilities have 
thus far prevented its cultivation for market, the 
bulk of the crop sold there coming from California. 
He adds that the Chinese in the vicinity of Port- 
land cultivate this vegetable, but that their peculiar 
methods are not yet understood. 



THE PACIFIC COAST. 91 

Some ten years ago experiments were begun by 
one of our seedsmen in raising cauliflower and 
cabbage seed on the alluvial tide lands on the 
shore of Puget Sound. These lands, after being 
diked and drained, proved to be remarkably well 
adapted to the growth of the cauliflower and its 
seed. Others have since engaged in growing these 
seeds in the same region, and the business is 
assuming large proportions. An account of this 
enterprise may be found in the chapter on Seed. 



CHAPTEE VI 



INSECT AND FUNGUS ENEMIES. 
The insect enemies of the cauliflower are the 
same as those which attack the cabbage and other 
related plants. The four here mentioned require 
to be specially guarded against In preparing 
these notes I am indebted to Mr. L. O. Howard, of 
the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, for 
essentia] aid. 

Flea Bej ple < Phyllotrea ttriolata, Pabr).- This 
insect, also known as the "ground flea" or "Jack," 
seldom attack- the plants except while growing in 
the open ground, and is most troublesome in warm, 
sheltered situations. A safe preventive, therefore, 
is to grow the plant- in beds or frames elevated about 
three feet from the ground. The objection to this 
method, aside from the extra labor involved, is the 
necessity of almost daily attention to Bee thai the 
soil does not dry out. A supply of water must be 
conveniently at hand if this method is used, and it 
is desirable also, to prevent the beds drj ing out too 
quickly, to have the earth at least eight inches 
deep. In hot-beds this insect is seldom trouble- 
some, being probably repelled by the fumes from 
the manure used. When the seed is sown in the 



94 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

open ground, as practised by many large growers, 
an extra quantity should be used to ensure against 
almost certain loss of some of the plants by the 
flea beetle. The soil should be rich and fine, so 
that the plants will pass the critical stage as quickly 
as possible. Sowing radish seeds with the cauli- 
flower is practised by some, as this seed costs but 
little, and the radishes, coming up first, are attacked 
by the fleas, which, to some extent, saves the 
cauliflowers. When the fleas appear, almost any 
kind of dust will keep them in check somewhat. 
Lime and ashes are used, but plaster, which 
adheres to the leaves better, seems equally good. 
I have had good success with rancid fish oil, mixed 
as thoroughly as possible with water and sprayed 
upon the plants. An emulsion made of the oil, in 
the same manner as hereafter described for kero- 
sene, would enable it to be used to better advantage. 
A decoction of tobacco, or fine tobacco dust, are 
standard remedies for this insect. 

Cut Worms. — Cauliflower plants being fully twice 
as valuable as cabbage plants, and it being of more 
importance to have them started at the proper time, 
it is necessary to give greater care to protect them 
from cut worms. Absolutely clean land contains no 
cut worms, but such land is seldom used on which 
to plant cauliflower. Sod land, which is generally 
used, is nearly always full of cut worms. A multi- 



INSECT ENEMIES. 95 

hide of remedies have been proposed for this pest, 
but few of them are of much value. The worms 
are most abundant and destructive in the latitude 
of Xew York during the month of May. Fortu- 
nately, cauliflowers are usually set out either earlier 
than thi<. for the early crop, so that they become 
well established and oul of reach before their depre- 
dations seriously begin, or else, for the late crop, 
thej are 3e1 toward the Last of June, after the 
worms have begun to pupate, and are no longer 
troublesome. Until recently, digging and killing 
the worms by hand seemed, to be almost the only 
practical remedy. Of late years, trapping the 
worms under banches of grass "i- cabbage leaves, 
scattered over the ground preparatory to Betting 
the plant-, ha- been si i!1\ resorted to. An 

improvement upon this method, recommended by 
the Entomologist of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, is now in ose, and gives excellent 
satisfaction. It consists in poisoning with Paris 
green the leave- used to trap the worms, so that 
there i- no need to collect and kill the worms by 
hand A good way to do this is to spray with 
Paris green, in the usual way. a patch of young 
clover, then cut it ami scatter it in small bunches 
over the cauliflower field a day or two before setting 
the plants. For the protection of a few plants in 
the garden, an effectual preventive against cut- 



96 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

worms is to surround the stem with a cylinder of 
paper or tin. This need not touch the plant. One 
should expect to lose some plants, however, by cut 
worms, and be prepared with good plants to fill the 
vacancies. 

Cabbage Maggot (Anthomya brassicce, Bouche"). — 
Dr. J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist of New York, 
says of this insect: " This is probably the most inju- 
rious species of the Anttiomyiidw, as its distribution 
is very extensive, both in Europe and America, and 
it has shown at times such capacity for multiplication 
as to cause the entire destruction of cabbage crops. 
It commences its attack upon the young plants 
while yet in the seed-bed and continues to infest 
them, in several successive broods, until they are 
taken up in the autumn. The larvse operate by 
consuming the rootlets of young plants, and by 
excoriating the surface and eating into the rind of 
older ones, or even penetrating into the interior of 
the root. When they abound to the extent of 
seriously burrowing the stalk the decay of the root 
frequently follows in wet seasons, and entire fields 
are thus destroyed." 

The same insect attacks the turnip, cauliflower, 
and probably other plants. A closely related spe- 
cies is very injurious to the radish. The presence 
of the insect most frequently becomes manifest 
upon the cauliflower about two weeks after the 



INSECT ENEMI1 3. 91 

plants are set out, and is recognized by the plants 
ceasing to grow, and wilting or assuming a bluish 
appearance. Such plants should be at once re- 
moved, together with the earth immediately sur- 
rounding the root, and fresh plants which have 
Ihmmi held in reserve Bel in their places. The only 
satisfactory remedies are preventive ones. The 
Beed bed should be composed <>f soil taken from 
the woods, or at least from some place where no 
cabbages or similar plants have been grown. But 
the most important precaution is to avoid growing 

the crop year after year upon the same ground, 
especially after tin' insect has made it- appearance. 
The following remedy, given by Francis Brill, in 
his pamphlet on " ( lauliflowers," is worthy of careful 
trial. Mr. Brill Bays "The ravages of the root 
maggot have mad.' the growing of early cauliflower, 
and even early cabbages in many sections, almost 
an impossibility, bnt there is a remedy, when the 
maggot has attacked the roots of the plants, which 
may be known by a tendency of the Leaves to wilt 
and droop in the heat of tlm day. very much the 
same as when affected i>y club root. Dissolve Muriate 
of Potash (analyzing 45 per cent actual potash I in 
water in the proportion of one tablespoonful to the 
gallon; or double the quantity of Kainit or common 
potash salts (13 per cent, actual potash). Apply 
this directly to the roots, about one gill to each 



98 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

plant, whether seemingly affected or not, for the 
maggot will have done much harm before the 
plant will show it, repeating the application as 
occasion may seem to require. In sections where 
these maggots have been prevalent it will be well 
to make a solution of half the above strength, and 
when the plants are nicely started apply in the 
same manner as a preventive. Care and judgment 
must be used not to overdo the matter, thereby 
killing the plants as well as the maggots. Exper- 
iment a little at first." 

H. A. March, of Washington, says: "The best 
thing that I have found for the maggot is a poor 
grade of sulphur, sulphur before being purified, 
that smells very strong. Sprinkled over the plants 
it seems to drive the fly away." 

Cabbage Worm {Pier Is rapce, Koch). — The im- 
ported cabbage worm, now known all over the 
country, is the most troublesome enemy which 
attacks either the cabbage or cauliflower, and the 
most difficult one with which to deal. It seldom 
wholly destroys the crop, asnd is generally a little 
less destructive after a few years than it is at first, 
being kept in check by its natural enemies. It 
never disappears, however, and its numbers cannot 
be materially diminished for any length of time 
by artificial means. Among the partial remedies 
in use are the following: 



INSKt'T ENEMIES. 99 

1. Catch the butterflies with a net when they 
first appear in spring, before they have laid their 
eggs. This may keep the insect in check for a 
year or two when it first makes its appearance, as 
the butterflies are comparatively slow fliers, and 
may be caught without much difficulty by a Bpry 
boy, especially in the morning when the air is 
damp. 

2. Early id the season keep the young plants 
excluded from the butterflies, and the whole place 
Tree from everything else of the cabbage tribe, 
except one or m»»r»' patclie- uf rutabagas or rape, 
on which the butterflies will lay their eggs. This 
piece is to be then plowed under. 

3. Hand pick the worms from the plants after 
they are set out. for the first one or two b 

or until the worms heroine very aumero 

I. Spray with kerosene emulsion, made by using 
two gallons of kerosene, one half pound of common 
or whale oil soap, and one gallon of water. Dis- 
solve the soap in the water, and add it. boiling hot, 
to the kerosene; then churn, while at least warm. 
for five or ten minute-, by means of a force pump 
and spraying nozzle, until the mixture loses its 
oiliness and becomes like butter. When used, 
dilute one part of the emulsion with about fifteen 
of water, and spray it upon the plants by means of 
a force pump and -praying nozzle. This emulsion 



100 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

is also excellent for the cabbage louse and many- 
other insects. In the report of the United States 
Department of Agriculture for 1883 may be found a 
description and figure of a suitable spraying 
apparatus. 

5. Pyrethrum, one ounce to four gallons of 
water; or, better still, mixed one part with about 
twenty parts of flour and applied while the dew is 
on, is an effectual remedy. 

6. Hot water, at 130° Fah., will kill the cabbage 
worms and not injure the leaves. Boiling water, 
placed in sprinkling cans and taken directly to the 
field, will be about the right temperature by the 
time it can be applied. Experiments with a few 
plants may be needed to enable one to get just the 
right temperature to kill the worms and not injure 
the plants. 

7. Take half a pound of London purple to thirty 
pounds of finely pulverized dust of any kind, the 
finer and drier the better; mix thoroughly, passing 
all through a meal sieve. Dash a small pinch into 
the heart of the plant, so that it will settle as dust 
on all the leaves. Eepeat after every rain. Half 
a pound will serve for one application over forty 
acres. Store any that remains in a very dry place 
until again wanted. 

8. Professor Gillette, of Colorado, finds the best 
remedy to be Paris green, thoroughly mixed, one 



FUNGUS DISEASES. 101 

ounce with six pounds of flour, and dusted lightly 
over the plants while the dew is on. 

FUNGI - DISEASES. 

There are several parasitic fungi which are more 
or less destructive to the cauliflower at different 
stages of its growth. The principal diseases of the 
cauliflower due to fungi are the following : 

Si em Rot. This Is an old disease, which attacks 
the cauliflower, cabbage and other vegetables in 
wel seasons. It has received various other names, 
such as "consumption," "humid gangrene,'' etc. 
Professor Con i»'-. ' who has studied this disease in 
Italy, 1" it to be the same as the "humid 

gangrene" which occurs id Germany, and which 

is there attributed to the parasitic attack of the 

fungus known as Pleospora Napi, Be finds this 

*Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 1886 Rev. Mb., p. 1. 
La cancrena del Cavolo Fiore Lagangrem humide du 
Chou-fleur par M. Le Professor < >. Comes [Atti del /.'. 
Inatituto </</ incorroggiamento alle Scienzie naturali. 
Estratta <lal Vol. IV. •'■• i serie, degli Atti Academici, 
L885). [The Humid < Gangrene of the Cauliflower. | 

"A disease which attacks the crops of cauliflower 
around Resin a and at Torre del Greco, near Naples. 
The roots of the diseased plants remain sound, or at 
least appear so, but the subterranean parts of the stem 
are more or less seriously affected; the bark is disorgan- 
ized, the wood situated beneath it more or less decom- 
posed, and the pith destroyed for a variable length 



102 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

and other fungi present, but does not himself con- 
sider them the direct cause of the disease, which he 
attributes solely to the abundance of manure and 
moisture in the soil, and an excess of water in the 
plant, at a time when it is subject to sudden 
changes of temperature. Beyond a doubt, how- 
ever, the real cause of the disease is the presence 
of one or more fungi, whose development is favored 

Upon microscopic examination the vessels are found 
filled with gum. M. Comes recognizes in this disease 
all the symptoms of the affection which has been desig- 
nated under the name humid gangrene. He thinks that 
it is the same disease which, by German authors, is 
attributed to the parasitism of Pleospora Napi, Fuckel, 
or to its conidiferous form, sporidesmium excitosu?n, 
Kuehn. But he considers the presence of these para- 
sites as an accessory phenomenon, as well as that of 
Cladosporium and Macrosporium Brassicce. In his 
opinion the true cause of the alteration of the cauli- 
flower is the humid gangrene, that is to say, a gummy 
degeneration and putrid fermentation of the tissues, 
caused by the abundance of manure in the soil and the 
excess of water in the plant at a time when it is subject 
to sudden changes of temperature. 

"This disease is not confined to cauliflowers; it is 
common in all garden vegetables, and is of the same 
nature as that which attacks tomatoes and which was 
described by this author in the same journal in 1884." 
[This disease is also mentioned by Victor Paquet, in his 
"Plantes Potagers" (London, 1846, p. 243), where it is 
attributed to stagnant moisture]. 



FUNGUS DISEASES. 103 

by the damp weather. The subject requires further 
study. 

In this country this disease has been reported 
from Michigan. New York. Maryland and Florida. 
On Long Island, in 188 ( J,* the caulinower crop was 
almost entirely destroyed by this disease, which was 
attributed to the heavy rain-- at the time the plants 
were heading. Some lields were -a total loss, and 
from the best fields many of the heads spoiled 
before they reached the market. 

No satisfactory remedy is known for the disease. 
The avoidance of damp soils and Locations would 
be of some benefit, but i^ hardly practicable with 
the cauliflower. Wide planting is practiced on 
Long Island in order to diminish the tendency to 
the disease. It undoubtedly has this effect to some 

* Country Gentleman, 1889, p 769, (from the Port 

Jefferson Tint's, Sept. 27): 

"Close upon the heels <>f a partial failure of the potato 
crop through rotting oomee the news from various points 
on Eastern Long Island that the cauliflower crop has 
almost totally failed through the samecause. In Manor- 
ville the crop has not sufficiently developed in some of 
the fields to warrant picking, and in Mat tit nek ami east 
of that place the rotting will result in an almost total 
loss. In a few cases there is not yet any indication of 
rot, but the farmers are afraid to tie the plants up lest 
rotting ensue. 

" In East Moriches, Orient, and the near vicinity, the 
yield will not be of sufficient value to pay for plowing 



104 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

extent, by permitting a more free circulation of the 
air, thus drying up the moisture on the plants and 
thereby lessening the opportunity for the germina- 
tion of the spores. The increased distance may 
also diminish the chance of the spread of the spores 
from plant to plant. When this disease appears 
upon the early crop in hot-beds or cold frames it 
may be kept somewhat in check by giving as much 
air as possible, and taking care not to apply water 
to the leaves. 

Damping Off. — This is usually due to a species 
of Pythium (a fungus closely related to that which 
causes the potato rot), which attacks the young 
plants soon after they germinate. The remedy is, 
to give the plants plenty of air until their stems 
become strong enough to resist its attacks. An 

the ground, not to speak of the other expenses which 
have been entailed. Through the Hamptnos careful 
observations failed to reveal scarcely a single successful 
crop. 

" Last Saturday Henry T. Osborn, of East Moriches, 
tied up 2,000 heads and on Monday he cut enough to fill 
30 barrels. He let them lie in his barn over night, and 
the next day not a barrel of them was fit for shipment 
to market. 

" George Cooper, of Mattituck, planted seven acres of 
cauliflower which he thinks will prove a total loss. And 
so on the reports come from many East End farmers. 
The recent heavy rains are generally assigned as the 
cause of the failure." 



FUNGU8 DISEASES. 105 

additional precaution sometimes employed is to 
grow the plants in pans or small boxes and water 
them only by Betting these in a tank of water of 
nearly the same depth, allowing the water to soak 
into the soil, but not touch the plant-. The disease 
seldom troublesome on plants grown thinly in 
the open air. If it makes it- appearance, water 
'thoroughly, but not too often, and Bprinkle i\vy 
Band over the Beed bed among the plan: 

Blaob Leg or Mildew. — This is a disease which 
attacks the stems of young plants which are 
being wintered over. It is undoubtedly due to one 
or more species of parasitic fungi, but I do noi find 
that the subject has been Btudied. Doubtless the 
rapture <»{* the bark by alternate breezing and 
thawing gives the fungi an opportunity bo attack 
the plant. The disease is prevented and kept in 
check by keeping the Beed bed <\v\. \n occasional 
dressing of Band, lime, wood-ashes or rubbish of 
any kind, is useful. 

*A series of articles upon "damping off" maj 
found in the American Garden for L889, pp. 347 9. 



CIIAPTKK VII. 



CAULIFLOWER SEED. 

With no vegetable is it mon 1 important to have 
good seed than with the cauliflower, and in none is 
there a greater tendency to deteriorate. On this 
account less dependence is to be placed upon named 
varieties than in -ome other cultivated plant-, and 
greater need is required to secure carefully selected 
strain-. Owing to peculiarities of soil, climate and 
Beason, and the different degrees of care given )>v 
the different growei Is of the same variety may 

be better from one source thao from another. On 
this account, when a variety is found adapted to 
one's needs it is well to use the same variety, and 
obtain it from the same source year after year. 

Cauliflower Beed is mostly grown in Europe, 
chiefly in Holland and Germany, to some extent in 
Italy and France, and Less in England. One 

variety, the Large Asiatic, - 1- abundantly in 

Northern India. There area few localities where 
the seed is successfully grown in the United Stale-. 

In Europe the dwarf early varieties are chiefly 
grown in the north, and the large late varieties at 
the south. In the Bouth the seed is most easily 
grown, and southern seed brings the lowest price. 



108 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Mcintosh states that cauliflower seed seldom 
ripens in Scotland. In England, as I have said, it 
is grown to a limited extent, but not so much as 
that of broccoli. The seed plants are there selected 
in June, at the time of heading, and allowed to 
stand until the seed matures. Mr. Dean states 
that his Early Snowball produces in warm, early 
seasons better seed in England than anywhere else. 
Loudon, in his " Encyclopaedia of Gardening'' (5th 
Ed., 1827) quotes Neill, as saying that "Until the time 
of the French Revolution, quantities of English 
cauliflower were regularly sent to Holland and the 
low countries, and even France depended on us for 
cauliflower seed. Even now English seed is pre- 
ferred to any other." 

A later English writer states that the English 
prefer Dutch seed and the Dutch English seed. 

Most of the seed now used in England, as well 
as nearly all of that sold in this country comes 
from Holland, France and Germany. The climate, 
especially of Holland and North Germany, is par- 
ticularly favorable for the production of tine strains 
of seed, especially of the dwarf early varities. 

Mcintosh ("Book of the Garden," 1855, Vol. II, 
p. 116) says: " Our best cauliflower seed is imported 
from Holland, and for its quality we have much 
greater reason to thank the better climate than the 
growers, who are not over particular in the matter, 
as Dutch cauliflower seed is sure to sell." 



' ML1! I.oWER SEED. 109 

The Mediterranean varieties are generally large, 
and require for the most part too long a season to 
be popular and successful in this country. As 
dwarf varities have been produced, the cultivation 
of this vegetable in Europe has extended Farther 
north. As already state.], when the cauliflower 
was firsi cultivated in Prance the island of Cyprus 
was the only place where it was known to 3ee I. and 
for a time the plant was knowo in England under 
the name of Cyprus ( 'olewort. 

Although mosl of the Beed Osed in the United 
States is still imported, American growo 
appears to give good satisfaction and is moderate 
in price. Professor W. J. Green, of the Ohio ex- 
periment Btation, who tested Puget Sound seed in 
1889, reported as follows: "The mosl remarkable 
examples [of the superiority of Northern growD 
seed] are found in the Pugel Sound cabbage and 
cauliflower seed, which show greal vitality and 
consequent vigor in growth of plant. We have 
received numerous samples grown in thai region 
by H. A. March and A. (r. Tillinghast, brother of 
Isaac Tillinghast, the seedsman. These seeds were 
very large, full of vitality, and the plants uncom- 
monly vigorous. At transplanting time the plants 
were nearly twice the height of others of the same 
variety, while the difference in color was very 
marked. This robust habit continued to manifest 



110 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

itself during a greater part of the season, but as 
maturity approached, the variation was less and 
less marked, until at last the others had caught 
up, and there was no perceptible difference." No 
change in time of maturity or habit of growth was 
noticed. 

Mr. Brill, of Long Island, states that to secure 
seed there it is best to winter over the partially 
headed plants in a cold frame or cellar, and set 
them out early in the spring. The summers are so 
warm there, however, that except in particularly 
favorable seasons but little seed forms. Several 
excellent early varieties have originated on Long 
Island, and there is reason to believe that hot, 
changeable climates, though unprofitable for the 
growing of seed, are particularly favorable for the 
production and maintenance of early sorts able to 
head in hot weather. 

It is perhaps for this reason that England, Den- 
mark, and Central Germany have produced more 
early varities than Holland, France and Italy. The 
dry calcareous soil of some parts of England 
appears to be particularly favorable to the produc- 
tion of early varieties. 

In the vicinity of Boston, cauliflower seed has 
been grown to some extent, especially the variety 
known as Boston Market, which was formerly very 
popular there. James J. H. Gregory writes me 



0AT7LIFLOWEB SEED. Ill 

under date of March 3d, 1891, that he raised 60 
pounds of seed of the Boston Market from 500 
plants, where from the same number of plants of the 
Snowball and Extra Early Erfurt, grown under pre- 
cisely the Bame conditions, he obtained less than a 
great spoonful. The seed was raised on an island 
used expressly for thai purpose. 

It is a custom in England and Holland, where 
the seasoD le too short for the Beed to ripen per- 
fectly, to diminish the number of - I -talks on a 

plant by cutting oni the centre of the head. The 
flower-stalks require to be supported by stakes, and 
when th" see l is nearly mature to be guarded from 
birds. A plaster cat is recommended as a good 
scarecrow, especially if it- position is changed 
ever} few day-, so thai the bird- will continue to 

think that it is alive. 

Cauliflower - 1. a- is well known, is smaller and 

inferior in appearance to cabbage seed, and always 
contains a considerable proportion, which is 
shrunken and worthless. This pi tor seed is re- 
moved from the crop as much as possible before it 
is sold. This shrunken condition arises from the 
fact that a large -hare of the flowers fail to set, and 
many of the pods <ml\ partly till. Shrunken seed 
is no indication of inferiority of variety, in fact 
rather otherwise, for the most compact heads, being 
the most deformed from a structural point of view, 



112 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

give the least amount of good seed. Still, it is not 
necessarily true that the highest priced seed is 
always the best and most economical to use. A 
new variety, until it becomes well established, 
requires rigid selection, and this so reduces the 
amount produced that a high price can be obtained 
for all that is grown. An older variety, on the 
other hand, which has become so well established, 
and comes so true that nearly every head is perfect 
and will furnish good seed, can be supplied at a 
cheaper rate and may for a given purpose be equally 
good. As a rule it may be said that the newest and 
highest priced seeds are too expensive to use on a 
large scale, and the cheapest seeds are inferior 
in quality. One should not judge of the value 
of a variety wholly by the price at which its 
seed is sold. Most of the high priced varieties are 
dwarf kinds, which are becoming more and more 
popular in this country, but which produce com- 
paratively little seed. 

Our varieties of cauliflowers have all been devel- 
oped by means of selection. Desirable features 
have either been aquired by gradual selection 
through successive generations in a given locality; 
or some sudden variation has been preserved and 
perpetuated. Climate, as already stated, has had 
much to do in developing certain peculiarities. 
The varieties of Italy, France, Holland and G-er- 



CAULIFLOWER SEED. 113 

many have in each case certain features common 
among themselves which can only be accounted for 
1 y the influence of the particular climate in which 
they are grown. It is, therefore, useless to attempt 
to maintain these characters wholly unchanged in 
other climate-. Hardiness, earliness, certainty of 
heading, protection of the head by leaves, and 
shortness of Btem, can all be increased by selection, 
but, as the) are all likewise influenced bj climate. 
the .-election is more effective in some climate- than 
in others. The varieties of the Bouth of Europe 
are as a whole characterized by a long period of 
growth, tall Btems, great vigor ami hardiness, and 
by having the leaves inclined to grow upright ami 
protect the head. 

The cauliflower « readily with the cabbage 

and other varieties ami species of the genus Bras- 
Bica. It does not usually flower at tic same time. 
however, a- other members of the genus, so the 
difficulty is not usually great in keeping it pure. 

In France the cauliflower ha- been crossed arti- 
ficially with cabbage, turnip and rutabaga, in the 
attempt to obtain varieties of greater hardiness. 
Numerous peculiar form- were the result of these 
crosses, some of which were good cauliflowers, said 
to be of increased hardiness, but none of them have 
found their way into general cultivation. One of 
these, owing to a cross with the turnip, acquired 



114 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

the flavor of that vegetable. A full account of 
these crosses may be found in the Revue Hortieole 
for 1880. 

The following remarks, by Mr. A. Dean, of Eng- 
land, on a case of apparent crossing in the cabbage 
tribe will be read with interest: 

" A very pretty conical -headed plant of a Cole- 
wort was allowed to run to seed, but nothing else 
of the same family was known to be in flower for a 
distance of at least several hundred yards. The 
produce was saved and sown, and has been furnish- 
ing food for the table during the past winter, but 
what a progeny! Some were reproductions of the 
seed parent, but larger, and proved very handsome 
early cabbages; others were very fair Coleworts; 
others bad examples of Cottager's Purple Kale, 
others Green Kale, while others resembled sprout- 
ing Broccoli, both green and purple. One plant 
was an example of the once popular Dalmany 
sprouts, and there were many other plants that 
admitted of no classification. It is probable that 
bees, which travel long distances, had somewhere 
found some sprouting in Broccoli flower and had 
brought pollen from those to the Colewort plant in 
question." 

Spontaneous variation has given a number of 
curious forms of cauliflower, including one with 
several heads in the place of one, and another in 



CAULEFLOWEB ON PUGET SOUND. L15 

which the head is flattened sidewise, like the garden 
cockscomb. These forms have not been cultivated. 

Cauliflower seed contains on an average about 
7,000 seeds to the ounce, of which about one-half 
usually germinate, a much Bmaller per cent, than 
in cabbage. Long Island Growers estimate two 
ounces of Beed to the acre as a Bafe amount for the 
small varieties and an ounce and a half for the late 
varieti< 

It was formerly a common belief, especially in 
England, that old seed would be most Likel] to 
produce good heads. There is little evidenc 
supporl this belief r and jusl as little ground For the 

more recent belief held by some that old - I is 

particularly liable to produce loose worthless heads. 
Like all other Beed cauliflower Beed ought to be as 
fresh as possible; fresh Beed always germinates 
best and gives the most vigorous plants. Seed two 
or three years old. however, is generally Batisfac 
tory, and it will often grow successfully at double 
that age. 

" OAULD I 'A EB SI I D OBOVi [NG OK PI 01 i SOUND.' 5 

By H. A. March, Fidalgo Island, Puget Sound, 

Washington, in Rural New Yorker^ l sss . 

"L am told by very good authority that cauli- 
flower seeds had never been grown in the United 
States as a field crop to any extent until we made 
a success of it here on Puget Sound. In the first 



116 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

place a very cool, moist climate is necessary to cure 
[secure] seeds at all. That climate we have here 
on our low flat islands lying in the mouth of the 
Gulf of Georgia. We often have heavy fogs in the 
night, and always dews equal to a light shower 
every night all summer long. The first expense 
attending the raising of cauliflower seed is quite 
heavy. The soil must be a rich, warm loam facing 
the south, and it will be all the better for having a 
clay subsoil. We must have the land underdrained 
once in twenty feet, the drains being three feet 
deep, to give us a chance to work early in the 
spring, and also to take off the surplus water when 
we come to flood the land in July. 

" To prepare the land for the crop we start in Sep- 
tember. After the fall rains have softened the soil, 
plow, harrow, roll, harrow again, then replow and 
work it again, until the soil is as fine as an onion 
bed. Now we throw it into ridges, six feet apart, 
and it is ready for work in early spring. For 
manure we sow 2,000 pounds of superphosphate 
and ground Sitka herring, equal parts of each, to 
the acre. With two horses and a Planet, Jr , culti- 
vator we work the ridges until they are nearly level. 
By using two horses we straddle the ridge, and 
save tramping it where our plants are to go. 

"To get the plants, we sow the seeds about Sep- 
tember 1, in rather poor soil, giving them plenty 



CAUUFLOWEB OH Pl'GET SOUND. I 1 i 

of room; the rows being a foot apart and the seeds 
sown thinly in the rows. This gives us stocky and 
hardy plants, which, we think, are less liable fco 
damp off when transplanted About November 1 
we transplant the plants into cold frames, six 
inches apart each way, as we wish to keep them 
growing a little all winter. The glasses are kept 
on at night and through heavy rains. In case of a 
cold -nap. we cover the glasses with mat-: but that 
is not often necessary, for we seldom have a tem- 
perature colder than 16 above zero. Everything 
depends <>n good plants ami an early Btart in the 
spring, for we raise two crops the same season, ami 

an earl) ErOSt <>n OUT unripe Beed 18 BUTO t«» ruin the 

crop. Now, to -'■! the plants out and make them 
grow from the Btart, a 1< tretched along one 

of these tlat ridges, a l- along, and with a 

three f«><>i marker mark- the spots for the plan' 
man follow- with a hoe and make- a hoi.-, about the 
size of a quart dish, to receive each plant. During 
the winter we have gathered up 200 or :!<><i tomato 
and oyster cans, melted off the top- and bottoms, 
leaving tulu it five inches Long by three or 

four aero—. Now. armed with a light wheelbarrow 
with a wooden tray, containing from 50 to 75 of 
these can-, we go to the cold-frame ( having well 
soaked it with water the night before); take a can, 
set it right down over the plant; press the can into 



118 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

the soil about two inches, and, with a light shove 
to one side, lift the plant without disturbing the 
roots; fill our tray and start for the field; run the 
barrow between two rows and set a can and plant 
in each of the holes just made. A boy follows with 
a watering pot containing warm water, and pours a 
gill into each tube, which softens the soil so that 
the tubes can be lifted right out, leaving the plant 
standing in the hole. We brush a little dirt around 
the plant, and firm it with the blade of the hoe. 

"Now we have our plants set, and not one ever 
wilts in the hottest spring day. In two or three 
days the cultivator is started and kept a going once 
a week until the heads begin to form. We hand- 
hoe three or four times, besides fighting insects. 
The cabbage maggot is our worst enemy. 

" When the flowers commence to bloom out or 
form heads, is the most particular time. A man 
who thoroughly understands what a perfect cauli- 
flower is, must now go through the field every two 
or three days and examine every head, and if there 
is any sign of its growing in quarters, or if a leaf 
is growing through the head, or if there is any 
looseness in its growth, the heads are staked and 
cut for market. For, as like produces like, it will 
never do to get seed from an inferior head, 
especially in the case of cauliflowers; for the seeds 
from these are more apt to run wild than any seed 



CAULIFLOWEB UN PUGET SOUND. 1 1 ( J 

I ever grew. We usually set a Fottler cabbage in 
the place from which the poor plant has been cut, 
and it makes a tine head by fall. 

"By the middle of June we have the field clear of 
all inferior heads, and their places filled with late 
cabbages. About this time all the heads saved for 
seed are 'sponging ont' preparing to throw their 
Beed -talk-. Now is onr time to help them. On 
the upper side of the field, we have wooden water 
tanks, each holding about 20,000 gallons of warm 
water. The water is nm into the tanks in the 
middle of the day through fiat opeo troughs, which 
heat it up to about 70 Fah. It is taken through 
canvas hose over the field, and the Boi] is soaked to 
the subsoil. \<>w our onderdrains come into play, 
for all of the surplus water ie drained off in about 
three days, and we can start the cultivator. We 
cultivate do... up to the plants, [f we break the 
leaves off it doesn't matter, for the) fall off any 
way as bood as the Beed Btalks start This water- 
ing gives the plants Qew life and they -tart off for 
a second crop, or become biennial- the firs! war. 

The watering and cultivation are kept up once in 

1<> davs until the seed-stalks are so large that they 
cannot be run through without breaking the plants. 
The seed ripens from the middle of September to 
the last of October, according to how good a start 
was made in the spring. 



120 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

"The expense and trouble are not over yet. The 
seed is ripening about the time our rainy season 
sets in, and we don't see the sun once a week on 
an average, so that our seed must all be dried by 
fire heat. Our dry- houses are 30 x 20 feet, and 
18 feet high with 2x6 inch joists running across 
the houses in tiers, on which we hang the seeds 
for drying. A brick furnace is built in the middle 
of the house, with the flue running through the 
roof. 

" We usually make three cuttings. As soon as the 
pods on the center stalks begin to turn yellow, and 
the seed a light brown, we make our first cutting. 
From one to three plants are put in a pile and tied 
with binding twine. The bundles are taken to the 
dry-house on wheelbarrows, made with racks on 
purpose for carrying the seeds. A cloth is spread 
over the rack to catch any shelling seeds. A man 
carries about 100 bunches at a load and passes 
them up to a man in the house who hangs them on 
nails driven for the purpose. The seed is allowed 
to hang a few days to thoroughly ripen before 
firing up. We aim to keep the heat in the top of 
the house at about 80° until the seed and stalks 
are dry. 

"The bundles are now taken down and laid upon 
a cloth where they are crushed by walking on them. 
Grain sacks are then filled with the stalks and pods 



CAULIFLOWER ON PUGET SOUND. 121 

as full as they will tie up, and the contents are 
thrashed in the sacks with a Hail. The seed is then 
sifted from the stalks and taken to the fanning- 
raill, and after putting it through the mill two or 
three times, we set the boys to rolling it. For this 
purpose we have a board two and a half feet long 
by one foot wide, with thin strips nailed on the 
sides to keep the seeds from rolling off. A boy sits 
down on a cloth with a pan of Beed by his Bide, and 
holds one end of the board in his Lap, while the 
other end rests od the cloth. He puts a handful of 
seed on the top end of the board and gently shakes 

it. All of the sound plump s I- run off on to the 

cloth, while the shriveled - Is, bits <>f Btalk, dirt, 

weed seeds, etc., remain on the board. A smart 
Indian boy will clean ten pounds a day. at a cost 
of 50 cents and his board. Now the seed i^ sacked 
in double cotton sack^. holding about ten pounds 
each, and is ready for market." 

In a subsequent paper the same writer said, in 
answer to inquiries upon the subject, that the cauli- 
flower and cabbage readily mixed, but that there 
was little dauger of their doing so in his locality, 
as the cabbage was nearly out of flower before the 
cauliflower began to blossom. To make the matter 
certain, however, boys were sent to every neighbor- 
ing cabbage patch to clip off all straggling late 
blossoms that remained. Only one variety of cauli- 
8 



122 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

flower, or strains of one variety, is grown by him 
for seed in any one year. 

The following letter from the same writer ex- 
plains itself: 

" Pidalgo, Washington, April 3, 1891. 
" Mr. A. A. Crozier, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

" Dear Sir ; — Your letter of inquiry received. In 
answer would say, I am the original cauliflower 
raiser in the Puget Sound country. In 1882 I dis- 
covered that by wintering the plants over in cold- 
frame, and keeping them growing all winter, those 
that were transplanted ivithout wilting would form 
heads, and then throw seed- stalks in time to form 
seed before frost, if they were continually wet with 
tepid water after heading. The first seed that was 
put on the market was sold by Francis Brill, River- 
head, L. I. Since then I have furnished some of 
the largest firms in the country with seed, and the 
seed has given perfect satisfaction. There is a 
secret in raising good seed that I don't care to give 
' away. Several of my neighbors have tried to raise 
the seed, and I believe some of it has been put on 
the market, but it has proved inferior for the want 
of skill in knowing ivhich heads to seed from, as all 
heads will not do to seed from, even though they 
may appear perfect to an inexperienced eye. It's 
skilled labor that produces No. 1 seed. 



( A! LIFLOWER ON PUGET BOUND. 123 

"I enclose you my circular, with reports from 
growers and dealers, also quite a few from the 
experiment stations. I have a large number that 
I have not printed, as they came too late for this 
year. The business has grown from a few pound- 
in 1882 to nearly 300 pounds in L890. I think in 
the near future, thai Pugel Sound will grow all of 
the cauliflower Beed that will 1"' grown in the 

country. Cabbage s 1 is also grown to a large 

extent. I raised about two tons Last year, and 
there probably will be ten tons raised on Puget 
Sound the coming Bummer. 

"Cabbage and cauliflower are grown to a consid- 
erable extent both in Oregon and Washington, 
though California Bends our first to this market 

•• Son ask me for an account of my Early Perfec- 
tion or "No. • '." It was a sport or a "stray Beed," 
found among some Erfurt Earliest Dwarf imported 
Beed, and being the first in the field t<> form a 
head bj over a week, L naturally saved it for 
-•stock Beed," and as it propagated itself perfectly, 
and was perfection itself, I named it Earl} Perfec 
tion. I am not aware of another by the name of 
Perfection on the market — never saw it in the 
seedmen's catalogues. Early Padilla and Early 
Long Island Beauty, by Brill, are the same; they 
originated with me, are a selection from Erfurt 
Large, and are early aud large. 



124 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

"All of Tillinghast's Puget Sound cauliflower 
seed has been grown by me. I have also grown all 
that Francis Brill has put on the market. 

"D. M. Ferry & Co.' s Early Puritan originated 

with me, from a sport of Henderson' s Snowball. I 

sold them the stock for two years. 

"Yours Truly, 

H. A. March." 






CIIAPTKR VIII. 



VARIETIES. 

The varieties of cauliflower differ among them- 
selves less than those of most other vegetables, and 
their characters are less lirmly fixed Theiz 
tendency to degenerate, especially under unfavor- 
able conditions, and the readiness with which they 
may be improved by selection, has given rise within 
recent years to numerous so-called varieties, some 
of them but slightly differing from those from which 
they originated. These have frequently received 

the names of the - Ismen who first seni them out. 

Many of these - Ismen's varieties have dropped 

out of cultivation, as well as other varieties which 
have appeared from time to time, but which have 
not possessed sufficient distinctive merit Some 
varieties, from not having been kept up to their 
original standard, have reverted to those from 
which they -prang, or become so like them that 
their names have come to be regarded as synonyms. 

Nevertheless, all such names have been brought 
together in the following catalogue, and all the 
obtainable information given concerning the vari- 
eties which they represent. The testimony given 
is sometimes contradictory, either from want of 



126 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

proper observation on the part of the writers 
quoted, or from differences in the seeds sold under 
the same name. This is necessarily somewhat con- 
fusing to one who is looking up the merits of a 
variety, but it will form a better basis for judg- 
ment than would a mere descriptive list, without 
reference to dates or authorities. It is practically 
impossible to make a satisfactory classification 
which will include all the varieties, and they have 
therefore been arranged here in alphabetical order, 
as being most convenient for reference. Nearly 
all of the most popular varieties have, however, 
characters sufficiently distinct so that they can be 
easily recognized. Some have short stems, others 
long ; some are early, others late ; some have 
upright leaves, others drooping; their color varies 
from grassy to bluish green; the heads vary from 
snow-white to cream -colored, and in two or three 
varieties classed with the cauliflowers they are 
reddish or purple, as in some of the broccolis. 
The form of the head varies from flat to conical. 

Most of our varieties have come from a few stocks 
whose characters, as well as those of their descend- 
ants, seem to have been largely determined by the 
locality in which they originated or have long been 
grown. The Algiers, Paris and Erfurt groups are 
examples. In each of these groups there is a series 
of varieties, differing mainly in size and earliness. 



VARIETIES. 1 2 i 

In the Erfurt group the production of early varieties 
has been carried farthest, owing doubtless to the 
character of the climate, as well as the greater Bkill 
employed in their selection. The early varieties, 
particularly of this group, are characterized by 
having comparatively small, narrow and upright 
leaves, and a rather short stem. A partial list of 
varieties, arranged in the order <>f earliness, follows 
the catalogue 

An\\\. i. see Laingfa Early Advan 

Alabaster [ntroduced t<> the general public 
l>v .J.>hn-«. n & Stokes in l s '.»<>. In their cat aloerue 
for that year these Beedsmen say: "Our Early 
Alabaster was originally a >|><>rt from the 
finest German Btraio <»f the selected Dwarf 
Erfurt, one extra fine head appearing some 
ten days in advance of an) other in the crop of one 
of the largest and most expert cauliflower growers 
on Long Island in L881. The seed of this was 

Carefully saved by him. and from it OUT stock has 
been brought up."' 

The seed of this variety has all been grown on 
Long Island, and it was all taken by Long Island 
gardeners until 1889, at which time there were said 
to be hundreds of acres of it in cultivation in Suffolk 
County, where it originated. [See Frontispiece.] 

Algiers, (Probably includes Large Algiers and 
Large Late Algiers). — Yilmorin, in 1883, described 



128 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Algiers as follows: "Extremely vigorous, stronger 
and better developed than the Giant Naples, 
[Veitch's Autumn Giant] ; leaves very large, undu- 
late, almost curly, of a very deep and reflective 
glaucous greeD ; stem large and strong, rather tall ; 
head remarkably large, fine and white. In habit 
of growth it approaches the Half Early Paris, but 
in time of maturity it agrees with the varieties of 
Holland and England. It is especially adapted to 
open-air culture in a warm climate." 

M. May, of France, placed it in 1880 just before 
Giant Naples in maturity, with a little shorter 
stem and little less ample foliage. He said: " Late, 
but of gigantic size; leaves large, long and numer- 
ous, of a glaucous green, and surrounding well the 
head, which becomes as large as those of our native 
varieties, and is snow-white and exceedingly fine. 
Specially suited to warm climates. In our country 
it may be sown in September, and gathered the 
following August." 

Rawson, a seedsman of New York, said in 1886: 
" A large and very popular late variety, and one of 
the very best for the market. This variety is largely 
grown for the New York market. It is one of the 
largest in cultivation, and always sure to head." 
Frotzer, of New Orleans, describes it as a French 
variety of the same season as Lenormand Short- 
stem, but a surer producer, having taken the place 



VARIETIES. 129 

there of other second- early kinds since its intro- 
duction. At the Ohio experiment station it proved 
unsuited to the climate. A writer in the American 
Agriculturist for 1889 stated that this variety was 
formerly largely grown in Suffolk County, Long 
Island, but that for the past two or three seasons 
it had done poorly, and would not be grown in the 
future. Its large size required the plants to be set 
four feet apart. 

Alleaimi: [Early Alleaume, Dwarf Alleaume). — 
This variety, originated by an intelligent market 
gardener of Paris; was. according to the originator, 
one of tin' best for cultivation under frames. Culti- 
vated there in the open ground, that is to sayi 
sown in June and planted »»ut in July, it has given 
remarkably good results. It is a little below medium 
height, and has a very short stem. Its oblong 
leaves are of a light graj i.-h green. The head is of 
medium size, very white, tine grained, of first 
quality, and early. It is a variety of great promise. 
This is the statement of the editor of Re rue Horti- 
cole in 1884 In 1888, Mr. Sutton, of England, 
calls it a distinct, dwarf, compact, French variety, 
having creamy-white heads, and coming in after 
Sutton's Favorite. In L890, Yilmorin quotes it as 
a very early dwarf, short-stemmed variety, espec- 
ially good for forcing. 

In 1885, W. A. Burpee offered an " Extra Early 



130 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

Alleaume," which he described as " stem very 
short, leaves long, entire or very little lobated, of a 
grayish- green color, forming a close protection to 
the head, which is large, line grained and pure 
white." This is probably the same variety as 
above. 

Alma [Waiters Alma). — Hackett sells this as a 
new English variety of large size, firm, and sur- 
passing in excellence the Walcheren. There was, 
however, a variety named Alma, probably the same, 
growing at Paris in 1857 (see Jour. Cent Soc. 
Hort France, 1857, p. 422). In 1865 Waite's 
Alma was considered by some to be merely the 
Early London, and by others to be the same as 
Walcheren; at least, seeds of these two varieties 
had been sent out for it. 

American. — Seed of a very early variety bearing 
this name was sent by William Ingell, of Oswego 
County, New York, to the editor of the Country 
Gentleman, in 1861. Mr. Ingell, who named the 
variety, does not state whether he grew the seed or 
not. In 1889, Bailey's " Annals of Horticulture" 
contained the name " American," with American 
Beauty as synonym. 

Ancient Lenormand, see Lenormand. 

Asiatic {Early Asiatic, Large Asiatic, Large 
Late Asiatic, Bur d' Angleterre). — These seem to be 
substantially one variety, the terms "early" and 



VARIETIES. 131 

" late " being in this, as in some other cases, 
applied by different seedsmen to the same variety, 
when, as in this case, it is of intermediate season. 
Since the introduction of such extremely early sorts 
as the Extra Early Erfurt, this and other mid- 
season varieties are more often called "late." The 
Asiatic seems to Lav.- originated from the Early 
London, of which it is regarded as merely a 
stronger growing and later variety. The first men- 
tion I tind of it is in Havey'a Magazine,™ L845, 
where Large Asiatic and Walcheren are called the 
two most Doted varieties. In L849 the Bame maga- 
zine Btates thai it was Benl oni by the Londoo 
Horticultural Society. In L850 a writer in the 
< "'' 1 ' >" '■' ( hronicle mentions this and Walcheren 
as his two favorite varieties. In 1854, J.D.Browne 
describes the Large, Late Asiatic in the report of 
the United Btates Department of Agriculture as 
larger and taller than Early London. 

In ls..-> this variety is mentioned in the American 
edition of "NeilPs Gardener's Companion" as having 
recently come much into use. As this edition was taken 
from the fourth Edinburgh edition, the actual date 
here referred to was probably much earlier. Three 
other varieties, scarcely differing in character, are 
mentioned— the Early, Late and Reddish stalked. 
The Large Asiatic is now extensively grown in 
Northern India, where it seeds freely, but has a 



132 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



short season, and is not considered as delicate or 
fine in flavor as the ordinary English varieties. 

Autumn Giant, see VeitcK's Autumn Giant. 

Baltic Giant. — In Burpee's " How to Grow 
Cabbages and Cauliflowers" (1888), Mr. J. Peder- 
sen, of Denmark, gives the following account of 
this variety: "A new variety of large, late cauli- 
flower, originated in these northern regions, and 
which I propose to name Baltic Giant, is very 
hardy, of robust growth, and produces very large 
and solid dazzling white flower-heads. A friend of 
mine writes from the Baltic island of Bornholm 
that in mild seasons he has left this splendid late 
variety in the open ground as late as Christmas, 
only protected by a leaf or two bent over the 
heads." The variety is being tested in this country 
by W. A. Burpee & Co. 

Berlin Dwarf. — Rawson says: "In earliness, 
size and quality it resembles the Snowball." 
Gregory, in 1$90, makes the same statement. 

Best of All. — An early variety mentioned in 
Gardening Illustrated, 1885, p. 438. 

Black Sicily {Large Black, Dwarf Early Violet 
Broccoli). — Vilmorin says : "In growth and appear- 
ance this variety somewhat resembles Algiers. 
Stem rather tall, leaves very large, broad and much 
crumpled, almost curly; differs from all other cauli- 
flowers in the color of its head, which is violet, and 



VARIETIES 133 

with a grain much coarser than in other varieties, 
while it is sufficiently close, solid and large. Not 
very late; always grown in the open air, and ready 
to commence cutting in September.*' Mentioned 
in Bon Jardinier, in 1859, as one of the three 
principal Brocoolis, with which it is generally and 
properly classed. 

Boston B£abket (Improved Early Paris). — This 
variety, which has now gone out of existence, was 
formerly extensively cultivated around Boston, 
where it originated by continued selection from the 
Early Paris. In the American Journal of Horti- 
culture, for 1869, p. 92, ia d figure and description 

Burpee's Besi Early.- An improved type of 
Dwarf Erfurt, aamed and introduced by W. A. 
Burpee & Co. in 1886, after, as they say, sixteen 
years selection by one grower. It is said to be of 
dwarf, compact growth, with a short stalk, and 
large, solid, Dearly globular heads, very early and 
certain to head. 

The Dingee & Conrad Company sell the same 
variety. 

At the Ohio experiment station in 1889, this 
variety was regarded as probably the same as Large 
Erfurt, rather large, and a few days later than 
Early [Extra Early] Erfurt, but quite as good in 
other respects. At the Colorado station, in 1888, 
" Burpee's Earliest " was noted for its large leaves 



134 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

and white, compact heads. It headed ten days later 
than Henderson's Snowball. 

Carrara Rock. — An extra selected strain of 
Erfurt, said by Wm. Elliott & Sons, of New York, 
to be the earliest and surest variety to head. 

Carter's Defiance {Early Defiance). — Gregory 
considers this a fine variety for forcing or very 
early use. 

Carter's Dwarf Mammoth. — An early variety, 
coming in just after Carter's Defiance. Plant 
dwarf, head very large, perfect in form and of fine 
color. 

Carter's Extra Early Autumn Giant. — A variety 
said, in 1889, to have large, close, white heads, both 
flower and leaf being less coarse than those of 
Autumn Giant. 

Carter's Mt. Blanc, see Mt. Blanc. 

Chalon Perfection. — A variety mentioned in 
Gardener's Monthly, in 1886. Said to be as white 
as snow, almost as smooth as ivory, and to make 
good heads in soil of moderate fertility. Probably 
the same as Early Dwarf Chalon, which see. 

Chapel (Chapel's Cream). — Catalogued in Bailey's 
"Annals of Horticulture," in 1889. 

Clark's Champion. — An imported English variety 
mentioned in VicWs Magazine for 1887, p. 52, as 
being a little later than Snowball and Vick's Ideal. 



VABIETIBS [35 

Cyprus. —Said by Wolfner and Weisz, of 
ana, in l v ^\ to be a beautiful early sort. It is 
an old Holland variety. 

Danish Snowi u i I by Vaughn, in 1891, 

3 s he hi ' 1 it for aeons, and finds 

it a good, extra early sort 

Dean's E - l. — This, the oldest, and 

for a long time the most popular of the Snowball 
varieties, has now been • ed in this country 

by Benderson's Snowball and other early - 

Jt is often said fco 1 arlier than Early Dwarf 

Erfurt, but at the Chiswick trials, in 1876, it did 
not prove to be so. A writer in the Garden, for 

; . places it third on the li>t of early variel 
placing Garter's Extra Early Defiance first, and 
Veitch's ! b I u i. It app< o be 

fully as dwarf as the earliest Erfurts, and to have 
a little larger head. Jt 1 id, even by the 

introducer, to be the Engli ih duplicate <>f the Early 
Dwarf Erfurt, but there is no doubt of it- distinct- 
ness from that variety. • afterwards recog- 
nized. There was another German variety, how- 
ever, name aotgiven, at theChiswick trials referred 
t... which was reported to be identical with Dean's 
Snowball. Mr. Dean Bays: "The Snowball may 
be told by one unfailing test, viz.: when the heads 
begin to burst into flower, they become suffused 
with a pretty purple tint." 



136 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

This variety was introduced into England in 
1871, by Mr. A. Dean, from Denmark, where it was 
largely cultivated. It is still one of the best early 
varieties, especially for hot weather and light soils. 
Mr. Dean states that it is about the only variety of 
which seed can be grown in England, and he con- 
siders English-grown seed of this variety the best. 

Dickson's Eclipse, see Eclipse. 

Deeee's Eaeliest Snowstoem. — Henry A. Dreer, 
in 1890, says in his catalogue: "The earliest and 
best of all for forcing. It is dwarf, with short 
outer leaves, and can be planted two feet apart 
each way; always sure to make large, line heads 
earlier than any other, and is the market- garden- 
er's favorite. This variety must be kept growing 
constantly, as it will not stand a check at any period 
of its growth." In 1891, he writes that this variety 
is a strain of Extra Early Erfurt," the seed of which 
is grown at Erfurt, Germany. 

At the New York experiment station, in 1888, it 
produced heads lit for use eighteen days later than 
Henderson's Early Snowball, and Earliest Dwarf 
Erfurt. 

Dwaef Eefuet {Extra Early Erfurt, Early 
Dwarf Erfurt, Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt). — 
These names all refer to practically the same 
variety, which is usually sold in this country under 
the name of Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt, and is now 



VARIETIES. 137 

the most popular early variety grown. It is simi- 
lar in habit to its parent, the Early Erfurt, but 
more dwarf, and the leaves smaller and more up- 
right, allowing the plants to be set closer together. 
The heads are close and well formed, but do not 
remain solid long, owing largely to the hot weather 
in which they are generally formed. The best seed 
comes from Erfurt, Germany, but as the variety 
rapidly deteriorates, there is great difference be- 
tween tin* selected ;m«l ordinary Btocks. 

Johnson *V Stokes Bay, in their catalogue for 
1890, that their extra selected Early Dwarf Erfurt is 
distinct from the Early Dwarf Erfurt Burpee 
calls his Extra Early Dwarf Erfurl "the finest of 
all early cauliflowers." He, as well as Borne other 
seedsmen, sell different qualities, "extra selected," 
'•true."" [lumbers "one" and "two." etc. Frenoh- 
grown seed Bells for about half the price of German 
seed. 

At the Chiswick trials, in l s 7''>, where all known 
varieties were grown, the Early Dwarf Erfurt 
proved to be the earliest variety grown. It is best 
grown as a summer variety, being rather tender for 
a late crop, though sometimes used. 

M. May, in the Revue Hortimlr. for 1880,. 
describes this variety as follows: "Early Dwarf 
Erfurt. Very early, with light-colored, short, up- 
right, spoon- shaped leaves, which surround the head 
9 



138 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

well, but do not cover it. The head is well rounded, 
very regular, of remarkable whiteness, and very 
line and close. It readily attains a diameter of 
fifteen to twenty centimeters [about five to seven 
inches]. This variety is especially adapted to 
forcing, as its small size permits it to be readily 
cultivated under glass. The best times for sowing 
it appear to be at the beginning of spring and the 
end of summer. One may also sow it in September 
to obtain a crop in April and May." 

Mr. J. Pedersen, of Denmark, speaks as follows 
of this variety in Burpee's work on "Cabbages and 
Cauliflowers:" "The success with cauliflowers 
depends greatly upon the right choice of varieties. 
This year, for instance, we have in this country 
suffered from drouth to an extent not known of 
for the last score of years, and yet I have seen a 
surprisingly grand field of cauliflowers, of an im- 
proved strain of the Early Dwarf Erfurt variety, 
grown in a stiff clayey soil, very dry in the surface, 
not in the best state of cultivation, and without aDy 
artificial watering whatever. The roots of the 
plants were 'puddled' when planted out; that 
was all. I do not believe that seven per cent., per- 
haps • not five, of said field of thirty or forty 
thousand plants failed to make fine, large, solid, 
beautifully white and typical heads. Other varie- 



VARIETIES. 139 

tif- have either utterly failed, or made stunted, im- 
perfectly developed heads." 

At the New York experiment station, in 1SS2, 
the Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt was slightly earlier 
than the Early Dwarf Erfurt, and produced double 
the proportion of good heads. 

The Ohio experiment station, in 1889, report. «1 
as follows: " The varieties or strains most highly 
recommended arc Early Puritan, Early Padilla, 
Long Island Beauty, Early Sea Foam, Early Snow- 
ball and A ick'a [deal. Those all appear to be 
nearly identical with Early [Extra Early] Erfurt, 
and may be considered as strains of that variety*' 
A- the Dwarf, or Extra Early, Erfurt has furnished 
a large share of the varieties now popular in this 
country, the following list of Erfurt varieties will 
be useful for reference. The first three are in the 
order of earliness; the <>th»-rs (descended from 
Dwarf Erfurt. i being alphabetical: 
Early Erfurt Mammoth. 
E.\i;i.\ EbFUBT. 
Dwarf Erfurt. 

Alabaster (Johnson c*v Stoke-). 

Berlin Dwarf. 

Besi Early ( Burpee). 

Carrara Rock. 

Gilt Edge (Thorburn). 

Ideal (Tick). 



140 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Imperial. 

Lackawanna (Tillinghast). 

La Crosse Favorite (Salzer). 

Landreth's First. 

Long Island Beauty (Brill). 

Model (Northrup). 

Padilla (Tillinghast). 

Prize (Maule)? 

Puritan (Ferry). 

Sea Foam (Rawson). 

Small-leaved Erfurt. 

Snowball (Faust). 

Snowball (Henderson). 

Snowball (Thorburn). 

Snowstorm (Dreer). 

Snowstorm (Pearce) ? 
Early. — At the New York experiment station in 
1888, a variety called " Early,'' from the English 
Specialty & Novelty Seed Co., was the only one 
among nine varieties which failed to head. The 
Early London White is sometimes known as "Early." 
Early Alleaume, see Alleaume. 
Early Defiance (Sutton), see Carter's Early 
Defiance. 

Early Duke. — Mentioned as one of the best four 
early varieties for Central France in the Annates 
de la Soci&te d' Horticulture de V Allier for 1852. 
See Lefevre. 



NAUIETIES. 141 

Early Dutch. — An old variety, described by 
Vilmorin as follows: "A large hardy variety, suit- 
able for Held cultivation. Stem long and rather 
slender; leaves elongated, but very large, of a 
grayish green, somewhat undulated. This is one of 
the varieties in which the side of the Leaf is bare at 
the base for a considerable distance. The head is 
hard and solid, yei very large. It is a half late 
variety. In its original country it doea better than 
the French varieties and it is cultivated on a grand 
scale around Leyden. Large quantities are shipped 
to England, where it is found in the London 
market-, together with cauliflowers from the coasts 
of France, and especially Great Britain. The 
name Dwarf Holland, which is given to this 
variety in Germany, can only be explained by com- 
parison with other Holland varieties. In compari- 
son with the French varieties it is tall." 

Earl? Dwarf Chalon. Vilmorin catalogue- this 
as "new" in L889, and says: •■Stem very short, 
head rather large, grain white and very close. 
Specially recommended for open air culture." See 
Chalon Perfection. 

Earl? Dwarf Fob< ma Sutton I. — No description. 

Early Dwarf Surpise. — An early variety from 
Vilmorin, which headed w r ell at the New York ex- 
periment station, in 1884. 



142 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Early Dwarf Vienna. — Said by Wolfner and 
Weisz, of Vienna, to be an old superior sort, still 
grown for the first and second crop. 

Early Erfurt (Erfurt, Large Erfurt, Large 
Early White Erfurt, Late Erf urt). — This is still a 
popular variety, but less hardy and less valuable as 
a late sort than the improved varieties from the 
south of Europe; and as an early sort it has been 
displaced by its offspring, the Extra Early Erfurt, 
and the newer varieties derived from that. The 
heads of the Early Erfurt are large and fine-grained 
but more inclined to be open and leafy than those 
of Early Paris. It is a little earlier than that variety. 
Vilmorin describes the Early Erfurt as follows: 
" Very early, distinct, and valuable, but difficult to 
keep pure. Below medium height; stem rather 
short; leaves oblong, entire, rounded, and slightly 
undulated; of a peculiar light grayish green, which, 
added to their form and their rather erect position, 
gives to the plant an appearance somewhat resem- 
bling that of the Sugar Loaf. Head very white, 
fine grained, rapidly developed, but not inclined to 
remain long solid." 

The Bon Jardinier mentions the Erfurt, in 1S59, 
among the novelties as the earliest variety then 
known,' being two weeks earlier than Salomon 
(Early Paris) and very suitable for forcing on 
account of its straight, upright leaves and earliness. 



VARIETIES. 



143 



Early Erfurt Mammoth (New Erfurt Dwarf 
Mammoth [Burr], efc).—F. Burr, in 1880* said: "A 
recent sort with large, clear white flowers, of super- 
ior quality. The plants are low and close, and 
generally form a head, even in protracted dry and 
warm weather. It appears to be one of the few 
varieties adapted to the climate of this country." 
This form of Early Frfurt has not been kept dis- 
tinct. 

r Favorite. A variety without description 

is -old under this came by A. B. Cleveland & Co. 
also Haskell's Favorite. 

Earli German. "A Dew variety advertised in 
English Catalogues :" Mag.ofHort., L838, p. 50 

Earl? La Crosse Favorite. — John A. S;i1/.t 
offers this as earlier than Henderson's Early Snow- 
ball, and -tlit' earliest, finest, whites! and most 
compact grown. n At the Ohio experiment -tation 
in L889 it was apparently the same as the ordinary 
large Early Erfurt. Mr. Salzer writes me that it 
is a distinct type of his own originating from the 
Early Erfurt 

Early Leyden, sec Walcheren. 

Early London (London Particular, Fitch's Early 
London. Early English, Large Late. I — An old sort, 
still (pitc popular in both the United States and 
England. Vigorous and hardy, with large, abun- 
dant, deep-green, undulated foliage: stem rather 



144 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

tall, but shorter than that of Early Dutch; head 

well formed and somewhat conical. Formerly the 

main variety grown as an early crop about London, 

but there are now varieties much earlier. 

Vilmorin regards it the same as Early Dutch, 

which is evidently an error. 

Early London Market (Gregory), see Early 
London. 

Early London White (Sutton). — An early form 
of Early London, cultivated some twenty years ago, 
but now seldom heard of. 

Early Padilla {Long Island Beauty). — The Early 
Padilla was named and sent out by Tillinghast in 
1888, who says that it is a sport from Henderson's 
Snowball which originated on one of his seed farms 
on Padilla Bay, Puget Sound, in the State of Wash- 
ington. Mr. H. A. March, of Fidalgo, Washington, 
who states that he grows all of Tillinghast's Puget 
Sound cauliflower seed, says that Early Padilla 
originated with him from the Large Erfurt, and 
was named by him the "American." It was published 
at first under this name in one of his circulars. 
Seed of the same was also supplied by him to 
Francis Brill, of Long Island, who named it and 
sold it as Long Island Beauty. 

At the New York experimant station in 1888, the 
Early Padilla equaled in earliness Henderson's 
Snowball, and was slightly surpassed by Extra 



VARIETIES. 



145 



Early Dwarf Erfurt, while the variety obtained 
as Long Island Beauty was the earliest of the nine 
early varieties on trial. At the Ohio experiment 
station in 1889, Long Island Beauty was called a 
very perfect strain of Early [Extra Early] Erfurt. 

Gregory said in L890: "Of the thirteen varieties 
of cauliflower raised in my experimental plot in 
1888, ever} specimen of the Dong Island Beauty 
made fine heads, and the head- averaged Largei 
than any other sort. It is among the very earliest 
.... Mr. Brill calls it. 'absolutely and unequivo- 
cally tlif best cauliflower in the world.'*" 

K\i:i.Y Pabis Tendn d* Paris, Salomon, Petit 
Solomon . An excellent Bort, more largely grown 
for a fall crop in this country in the past than any 
other variety. Intermediate in season between 
Half Early Paris and the new Extra Earl} Paris. 
As grown by the writer from seed obtained for 
several years of James Vick, the Earl} Paris was 
Later than Earl} Erfurt, but more certain to head, 
the heads more globular, a little smaller, decid- 
edly lighter in weight than those of that variety, of 
better quality, and almost entirely free from in- 
termixed leaves. Sown about .May LO, and set 
out the last of June, most of the plants formed 
their heads during October. As a summer variety 
it produces better heads than the Early Erfurt, 
but is less inclined to head early in the season. 



146 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Described by Vilraorin as follows: "Plant small r 
rather tall; leaves comparatively narrow, nearly 
straight, a little deflexed at. the extremity, and 
slightly wavy at the border; head of medium size, 
quickly formed, but remaining firm but a short 
time. This variety is particularly suitable for the 
summer crop; sown in April or May it heads in 
August or September." In this country, when 
used as a fall crop, no complaint is made of the 
heads not remaining firm. Sown in May in the 
latitude of New York it heads in September and 
October. M. May, of France, describes this variety 
as follows in the Revue Horticole for 1880: "An 
early variety grown by gardeners in the outskirts 
of Paris. It has nearly the appearance of the Half 
Early Paris, but is smaller, with a little shorter 
leaves, which are more narrow and upright. It is 
sown in September, and wintered over under hand 
glasses on a bank composed of manure from an old 
hot-bed and exposed to the south. The crop is 
then gathered during May. It may also be sown 
in March and gathered in July." 

Victor Paquet, in his work on Vegetables (Plantes 
Potagers), published at Paris in 1846, gives a 
full account of cauliflower culture and says: "We 
cultivate two distinct varieties, tendre and demi-dur. 
The sub-varieties gros and petit Salomon are sorts 
of the tendre." 



VARIETIES. 147 

Richard Frotzer, of New Orleans, catalogues the 
Extra Early and the Half Early, but not the Early 
Paris. 

Mr. Gregory, of Massachusetts, states that most 
of the seed sold in the United State- as Early Paris 
is really the Half Early. In a recent letter he says : 
" The Early or Half Early Paris is now about dead, 
the various strains of Extra Early Erfurt, such as 
Snowball, Sea Foam, etc, haying taking its place." 
D.M. Ferry A Co. sell a varietycalled "Early Paris or 
Nonpareil," the Latter name having been first given 
by -J. M. Thorbnrn & Co. to the Half Early Paris. 
There is no doubt, however, of the Early and 
Half Early Paris being two varieties. The former, 
which has so long been a favorite in the Northern 
States may BtiU be relied apon, though in many 
eases, as stated, it is being displaced bj the Extra 
Early Paris, and particularly by the Extra Early 
Erfurt and varieties derived from it. 

Eably Picrrs. — Catalogued by Vilmorin in 18<S9 
as a aew early variety with large white heads, ^ood 
for field culture. 

Early Pubttan. — ■ A little the earliest of four 
varieties at the New York experiment station in 
L889, the others being Early Erfurt, Snowball, 
and Tick's Ideal. At the Ohio station the same 
year it was considered to be a strain of Early 



148 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

[Extra Early] Erfurt and one of the best of its 
class. 

D. M. Ferry & Co., the introducers of this 
variety write me as follows regarding its history: 
" The Puritan cauliflower originated as the product 
of a particularly early, large- headed, aud dwarf- 
growing plant found in a large crop of Snowball 
during the summer of 1886. The seed from this 
plant was saved, and selections made from the 
product until a sufficient quantity was secured. It 
was first noticed and selected by one of the largest 
cauliflower growers in this country, and great care 
was taken in selecting and seeding the plant. It 
is purely American, both in origin and growth." 

It appears from the letter of H. A. March, on 
page 122, that this variety originated with him 
from Henderson's Snowball, at Fidalgo, Washington. 

Early Snowball. — Under this name Dean's 
Early Snowball is generally known in England, and 
this is probably the variety often sold as Snowball in 
the past in this country. Henderson's Early Snow- 
ball is, however, now sold under that name by many 
seedsmen, and is the one sent out as Early Snowball 
by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Seedsmen sometimes prefix their own name, to 
the variety or strain of Snowball which they sell. 
All varieties bearing this or similar names are, so 
far as known, of the Dwarf Erfurt group. 



VARIETIES. 



149 



Early Walcheren, see Watcher* n. 
Eclipse. — The first notice I find of this variety 
is in the Gardeners Chronicle for 1877 (Vol. VIII), 
where it is mentioned as being sent out by Dickson 
Brown & Tait. It is similar to Veitch's Autumn 
Giant, but about three weeks earlier. It is said to 
be a fine variety, with large heads, well protected 
by the leaves, and bo stand drouth well At the 
Ohio experiment station in 1889, the heads were 
invariably loose and sprangled 

Erfurt, Bee Early Erfurt. — The Erfurt varieties 
are characterized by light pea-green color, and stiff, 
more or Less upright leaves. 

Extra Eabli Alleaumb, see Alleaume. 
I.. Earl? Dwarf Forcing.— Probably the 
Dwarf Erfurt. 

Extra Earls Erfurt, see Dwarf Erfurt. 
Extra Eabli Paris.— This variety is not de 
Bcribed by Vilmorin in his Plantes Potagers, bnt 
it is probably the one given in his catalogue under 
the aame of " Extra Earliest Pari- i forcing)."' It 
is catalogued by the leading American seedsmen 
without description. 

Faust's Earliest Snowball. — H. G. Faust & 
Co., say in their catalogue for 1890: "Our Snow- 
ball cauliflower is undoubtedly the best in cul- 
tivation. It is the earliest grown, produces the 
finest snow-white heads, and its compact habit 



150 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

enables it to be planted closer together than any 
other variety." 

Favorite, see Early La Crosse Favorite, Has- 
keVs Favorite, and Early Favorite. 

Frankfort Giant, see VeitcWs Autumn Giant. 

French, see Large White French and Half Early 
French. 

French Imperial (Thorburn), see Imperial. 

Frogmore Early Forcing. — An old variety, 
described by F. Burr, in 1866, as follows: "Stem 
quite short, and plant of compact habit. The 
heads are large and close, and their color clear and 
delicate. Recommended as one of the best for 
forcing, as well as an excellent sort for early cul- 
ture." 

In 1876, a writer in the Country Gentleman's 
Magazine mentions it as the earliest variety grown, 
to be followed by Early London. It is now, how- 
ever, but little used. 

Gerry Island. — A variety said by Gregory to be 
a very reliable header, closely resembling Early 
Paris. At the Colorado experiment station, in 1888, 
it failed to head. 

Giant Malta. — Said to be a large, fin6 variety, 
with beautiful white heads of excellent flavor. 
Th'ough dwarf, it is late, requiring six months in 
which to develop. 



VARIETIES. 151 

Giant Naples. — Described as synonymous with 
Veitch's Autumn Giant, by Yilrnorin. in 1883, but he 
now catalogues il as a separate variety, similar to 
Yeitch's Autumn Giant, but later. It is doubtless 
the original, of which the Autumn Giant is a 
slightly improved form. M. May said of Giant 
Naples, in 1 SSI ': '* Very Bimilar to Algiers, a little 

taller stem, and more full} developed foliage. 

Highly esteemed in Italy and Algeria. Requires 
the sain*' culture a- Algiers." 

Gilt Ed a Ear] j Snowball (Thorbura). — This 
American variety was reported by the Pennsy] 
vania experimenl station in l Svs . as having done 
well and formed good heads, free from intermixed 
leaves, where nearly all othex sorts failed " It is a 
Buperioi selected Btrain of Early Snowball which 
originated on Long [aland and is of the Bame type 
as the best -train of imported Dwarf Erfurt." 
— (Johnson & Stokes, L891 >. 

Grange's Autumn.- A variety mentioned in the 
( kirdi n< t'.s 1 Chronich . in 1870, as earlier and in- 
ferior to Yeitch's Autumn Giant 

Ha a .is Early German.— Said by Wolfner and 
Weisz, of Vienna, to be an excellent short -stemmed 
variety for the open ground. 

Haage's Dwarf. — Said by Wolfner and Weisz, 
of Vienna, to have large, compact heads, which 
keep long in good condition. 



152 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Haage's New Dwarf Early. — " The best for 
forcing." — (Frederick Adolph A. Haage, Jr., Er- 
furt, Germany, 1890). 

Half Early French (Landreth, 1886). — Thor- 
burn, in 1891, catalogued Half Early Large French, 
and in previous years Half Early Dwarf French. 

Half Early Giant Italian. — A new variety cata- 
logued without description by Vilmorin, Andrieux, 
& Co., in 1889. 

Half Early Large White French (Vilmorin, 
Andrieux & Co. ) — No description. 

Half Early Paris (Demi-dur de Paris, Gros 
Salomon, Nonpareil). — Valuable for a late crop in 
this country, and now the most popular variety in 
the New Orleans market. Described by Vilmorin, 
of Paris, as follows: " Plant medium; leaves rather 
large, of a deep, slightly glaucous green, surround- 
ing the head well, and gradually renexed from the 
base to the apex; border undulate and coarsely 
dentate, stem rather short and stout; head very 
white, large, and remaining solid a long time. 
Formerly the most extensively cultivated for the 
Paris market, but now giving place to Lenormand 
Short- stem, and several new varieties." 

In the Revue Horticole for 1880, M. May says: 
" This- is the variety most cultivated around Paris, 
because it is suited to all seasons. It may be 
sown: (1) In September, to be gathered in May 



VARIETIES. L53 

and June, being protected during winter like the 

Early Paris: (2) in February, in a hot-bed, or 

under hand-glasses or frames, to be gathered in 

June and July: (3) at the first of .March, also in 

hot-bed, fco be set out in April and gathered in 

July; i 1 • finally, it may be -own in June on a 

ler of rich mold, 8 out in July, without 

having been transplanted This very Bimple 

method requires frequent waterings to yield 

results. The crop is gathered 6 - iptember to 

imber." 

ame Gr . now given by \ ilmorin 

and others aa synonymous with Balf Earh I' 

applied by Riband, in L852, to a separate 

variety (A\ de la & V Horticultun 

I' Mli<r. L852, p. 59). For remarks on the 

m nonym " Nonpareil," see that nan 

Mr. ( • Massach • the I! 

Early Paris or Demi-dur: "This is the kind usually 

sold in this country as Early Paris, the true rarietj 

making bo small a head as to be comparatively 

bless h< (Gregory, "Cabbages and How 

Irow Them," L870, p. 

EL\] i Ear] \ St. ! | />, mi dur </< 

Brieuc).— "Plant large and Btrong; I. quite 

large, elongated, undulate and of a deep green; 

stem long; head close, solid, and remaining a long 

time in good condition. This variety, which is. 
10 



154 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

extensively cultivated around St. Brieuc, [on the 
north coast of France] from which it is exported 
to Paris, and even to England, is quite hardy, 
and is well adapted to open-air culture." — (Vil- 
morin). 

The St. Brieuc was described by M. May, in the 
Revue Horticole, in 1880, as " a hardy, but late 
variety, inferior in its head to our Paris varieties, 
and not very generally cultivated." 

At the New York experiment station in 1886, this 
variety gave good results. 

Haskell's Favorite. — As grown at the South 
Dakota experiment station, in 1888, no difference 
was seen between this and Henderson's Snowball. 
Seed was sown in hot-bed April 10, the plants set 
out in well- manured soil, May 24, and the first 
heads cut July 13 — from which time the plants 
-continued to head along through the season. The 
introducer, George S. Haskell, of Rockford, 111., 
wr;tes: " The Early Favorite w«> sell is a variety I 
jround in Holland a number of years ago. It has 
-proved a very sure header in this section of the 
^country, and will yield more than other sorts. It 
is not of the ' Erfurt family,' but about half way 
between the Early Paris and Erfurt." 

Henderson's Early Snowball. — A German vari- 
ety, derived from the Dwarf Erfurt, introduced by 



VARIETIES. 155 

Peter Henderson & Co., about 1878, and which has 
become very popular. Gregory, in 1890, said that 
it was not excelled by any other variety, unless it 
was Thorburn's Gilt Edge, and that it combined 
the best characteristics of Berlin Dwarf. Extra 
Early Erfurt, and Sea Foam. Henderson & Co. 
state that it i- now grown for forcing more largely 
than any other variety. It is also considerably 
grown in field culture, do! onlj for tin- early crop, 
which it i- especially suited, but also for the 
late crop, the plant- being Bet oul a- late a- the 
firsl of August. Its Mnall size and reliability o\ 
heading are valuable features where suitable soil 

and culture are given. The high pri< f the 

and the lack of vigor in much of the seed of this 
and other Dwarf Erfurl varieties, have prevented 
their cultivation on as large a scale a- they would 
othcrwi-f be "Town. 

This variety wasformerlj soldty many seedsmen 
simply as Early Snowball, and it i- tin- one now 
usually referred t<» when the name Early Snowball 
is osed, See Early Snowball, i 

W . -I. (ireen. of th<* Ohio experiment station, 
says of Henderson's Snowball: " This justly cel- 
ebrated strain of Early [ Extra Early] Erfurt is 

probably better known than the parent variety. 
The true Henderson's Early Snowball is unexcelled, 
but there are other strains, and other varieties even. 



156 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

that have been sent out under this name, which 
are very inferior." 

The stock of this variety is now all controlled 
Peter Henderson & Co., and is grown in Germany. 
Seed descended from Henderson's stock has been 
grown at Puget Sound, and is claimed to be as good 
as the original. Several other sorts, including 
Puritan, Padilla and Gilt Edge, have been derived 
from Henderson's Snowball, which sometimes 
mature quite as early as this variety. 

Tdeal, see VicWs Ideal. 

Imperial. — May says, in the Revue Horticole, for 
1880: " A variety which seems to have originated 
from the Early Dwarf Erfurt, being a little more 
vigorous, and producing a little larger heads, which 
is without doubt a result of culture, for in head 
and leaf it wholly resembles the Erfurt. It is an 
excellent variety, employed in the same manner as 
the Erfurt, and deserves extended cultivation." 

Yilmoriu says: " This fine variety resembles the 
Dwarf Early Erfurt, but it is of deeper green, and 
every way larger. It is an early variety with 
beautiful white head, large and solid, and remark- 
able for its regularity of growth and product. 
When well grown it is certainly among the most 
desirable early varieties." Thornbum considers it 
one of the best for the main crop. It originated 
about 1870. It matured in one season eighteen 



VARIETIES. 151 

• lays and in another thirty two days before the 
Lenormand. — The Garden^ L873, p. 2). 

[mpebial Novelty (Landreth). see Imperial. 

Impboved Early Pabi8, see Boston Market 

Italian Gi at. — There are two or more forms of 
this variety in the market. For example: Vick 
sells "Italian Giant;" Gregory, " Italian Early 
Giant;" the Plant Seed Company, "Italian Early 
Giant Autumnal;" Vilmorin, "Half-Early Italian 
Giant (new);" Frotzer, "Late Italian Giant;" 
and Vilmorin, "Late Giant Italian Self-protect- 
The early form or variety seems to I"' the 
most generally sold by our seedsmen, and is per- 
haps the one indicated when the Bimple name 
Italian Giant is used Gregqrj calls the Early 
Italian Giant a "fine, Large white-headed early 
variety." Frotzer Bays it is not quite so Late as 
the Late Italian, almost as Large, and in ever} way 
satisfactory. The Late Italian Giant, he Bays, is 
grown to a considerable extent in the neighborhood 
(«f New Orleans, and is the Largest of all the cauli- 
flowers and should not be sown Later than Jun< 
it requires from seven to nine months to head. 

i snsos ^v Stokes' Earli Alabaster, see Ala- 
basti r. 

King, -.■•• Sutton's King. 

Knickerbocker. — An early variety with "fine 
large compact snow- white heads of excellent 



158 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

flavor." — (E. & W. Hackett, Adelaide, Australia, 
1889). 

Lackawanna. — An American variety sent out by 
Tillinghast, about 1884, and said to be a little 
larger and later than Henderson's Snowball. 

Landreth's First. — As grown at the New York 
experiment station in 1885, it was equal in earli- 
ness to the Early Dwarf Erfurt, and surpassed only 
by Henderson's Snowball. 

Large Algiers, see Algiers. 

Large Asiatic, see Asiatic. 

Large Erfurt. — A name sometimes applied to 
the ordinary Early Erfurt, in distinction from the 
Dwarf Erfurt. 

Large Early Dwarf Erfurt (Thorburn), see 
Early Erfurt. 

Large Early London. — Failed to head at the 
New York experiment station, in 1882. In 
1885 a small proportion of the plants headed; it 
was the latest among 38 varieties. 

Large Early White Erfurt. — Brill calls this the 
lowest grade of the Erfurt type, succeeding admir- 
ably at times, but not to be depended on, and apt 
to grow with small fine leaves through the heads. 
See Early Erfurt. 

Large Late Algiers, see Algiers. 

Laege Late Asiatic, see Asiatic. 

Large Late Walcheren (Dreer ), see Watcher en. 



VARIETIES. 



159 



Labge White Fbenchl— A tine large white va- 
riety, catalogued by Gregory and others in L890. 
Vilmorin calls it half-early. 

Labgest Asiatic- Taller and larger than 
the common Asiatic, but apparently no longer 
grown. The Gardener's Chronicle for L848 men- 
tions its a being Bold by Messrs. Schertzer, of 
Haarlem. 

L .;•. ~ E lb] J Ai'\ \n< i . A writer in the Gar- 
&*8 Chronicle, for L891, p. 121, Btates that he 
has grown it for the past three years and finds it. 
a good variety, with close white heads 01 moderate 
size, protected by many well incnrved leaves, and 
read} for ose about five months from the time 01 
sowing fche Beed. 

r jAT] i), ,, B Lorflw Late Dutch). Sold by sev- 
eral American Beedmen. Probably distinct from 

Early Dutch. 

i. Lenobmand Shobt-Stem, Bee Lenormand 

Sinn! SU iii. 

La. I. stooh (Burpee and Ferry).— No descrip- 
tion. See Asiatic and Large Early London. 

Late Pabis i Dur de Paris i. This, said Vilmorin 
in L883, is the latest variety cultivated by the 
market gardeners around Paris. It differs from 
the Half Early Paris, especially in being a little 
later, and in having its head remain hard and solid 
a long time; but it is also distinguished by the ap- 



1(30 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

pearance of its foliage, which is quite abundant, 
elongated, very much undulated, and of an intense 
green. 

This variety is the least cultivated of the three 
generally grown at Paris. The gardeners use it 
only for the summer sowing to come at the end of 
the season. It is now being supplanted by other 
late sorts. 

Late Walcheren, see'Walcheren. 

Lefevre. — Said to have been one of the best four 
varieties for Central France in 1852, the others be- 
ing Demi-dur de Paris (Half Early Paris), Early 
Duke, and Gros Salomon. 

Le Maitre Pied Court. — As grown at the New 
York experiment station in 1885, it was rather 
early. Probably the same as the " Lemaitre " or 
Chambourcy Short- Stemmed, catalogued by Vil- 
morin in 1890. 

Lenormand (Ancient Lenormand, Late Lenor- 
mand, Lenormand Extra Large, Lenormand Mam- 
moth). — Vilmorin said, in 1883: "It is now a 
score of years since the attention of the trade was 
called to this variety, principally because of its beauty 
and its great hardiness against cold. The Lenor- 
mand is in appearance but little different from the 
Half Early Paris (Demi-dur). The leaves are only 

a little larger. It certainly requires a little less 
care than other varieties, but its chief merit 



VARIETIES. 



161 



is having given birth to the Lenormand Short - 
stemmed, which is to-day one of the most generally 
prized." 

M. May describes and figures this variety in 
the Revue Horticoh for 1880. In the Journal of 
the Central H<>rt,>->iH,inti Society of i'r<n,<-< for 
1857 j- ; t report of a committee <>f that society 
upon this variety a- grown on the grounds of M 
Lenormand near Paris, it having been introduced 
by that gentleman in L852 from Halle, in Central 
Germany, where it was then Largely cultivated. 
The committee made a very flattering report, find- 
ing fche Lenormand much finer than the other 
varieties, Half Earlj Paris, Erfurt, and Alma, grow- 
ing in the same field. 

In this country the Lenormand was formerly a 
popular variety, being frequently mentioned, as 
loner aero a- L858, with the Early Parie Le of 

the two besl varieties, sine.' then it has been dis- 
placed by the followi] 

Lenormand Short Sum. — This variety, derived 
from the Lenormand. i-> described by Vilmorin 
in 1883 a- follows: " The a-p»>ct of this variety is 
very characteristic, and enables it t<> be distin- 
guished easily from all others when it is well grown. 
The Btem, extremely short, strong and stocky, is 
furnished down to the level of the earth with short, 



162 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



large, rounded leaves, slightly undulated except on 
the borders, very firm and stiff, and more spread- 
ing than upright; color deep green, slightly glau- 
cous; head very large and solid, beautifully white, 
and keeping in condition a long time. This variety 
is early, productive, hardy against cokl and drouth, 
and requires comparatively little room. Its rapid 
extention in cultivation within the last few years is 
not therefore surprising." 












To this it may be added that the variety is 
sold by nearly all our American seedmen and is a 
popular variety for a fall crop, especially at 
the South. Its large, solid, cream -colored heads 
are not however as well protected by the 



VARIETIES. 



163 



leaves as those of most other medium early or 
late sorts. 

Lenobmand's Shobt-Stemmed Mammoth (Lenor- 
mand's Extra Large Short- Stemmed). — This ap- 
pears to be a selection from the Lenormand Short- 
stem. It is offered under the second of the 
above names by Vilmorin, and under the rirst by 
Gregory and other American seedsmen. 

Long [bland Beauty (Brill), see Early Padilla. 
At the Colorado Btation, in l^ ss - seeds of Long 
Island Beaut} obtained from Low appeared to be 
an inferior stock, and gave heads which were loose 
and yellowish. For the origin of this varietj 
Early Padilla 

Malta Giant ( Bnrp< Giant Malta. 

Mabtin's Pbe8ident. Ajb grown by Mr. B. Gil- 
bert at Bnrghley, England, in l vs -\ this variety 
stood the exceptionally dry Beason better than Best 
of All, Snowball, Early Erfurt, or Veitch's Autunm 
Giant.— (Gardening Illustrated, L885, p. 138). 

Mm 1.1 'a Pi [2i Eabld st, see Pn 

Mitchell's Babdt Eablt. Said by F.-Bnrr, in 
L866, to be "a new variety, boquet not large, bnt 
handsome and compact. It is so firm that it 
remains an unusual length of time without running 
to seed or becoming pithy." 

Mooel.— The Northrap, Braslan & Goodwin Co., 
of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the introducers of this 



164 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

variety, say in 1891 : " The history of our Model 
cauliflower we can give you in a few words: We 
have for several years been testing cauliflower seed 
from as many growers as possible, in order to secure 
a variety which we could identify with our name. 
We have never been fully satisfied until two years 
ago, when we received from a foreign grower a 
sample for trial. Upon testing this seed in our ex- 
perimental grounds we found it so desirable that 
we arranged for the stock we are now selling, and 
which gives excellent satisfaction wherever grown. 
There are other varieties which produce as good 
heads and as early, but in our growths of this sort 
we have found a larger proportion of large, white, 
perfect heads than in any other strains we have 
tested." 

Mohawk White Cap (Nellis). — " Rather larger 
and later than Early [Extra Early] Erfurt and 
seems to be identical with Snowball from the same 
firm."— (Ohio Exp. Station, 1889) 

Mt. Blanc. — Said by Buist, in 1890, to be one of 
the largest and finest for forcing, or the general 
crop. Stem medium; heads large, snow-white, 
well protected by the leaves, and of delicate flavor. 

At the Oregon experiment station, in 1890, 
Carter's Mt. Blanc resembled Perfection in growth, 
but had somewhat larger heads. 

Naples, Giant, see Veitch's Autumn Giant. 



VARIETIES. [65 

Narrow— Leaved Erfurt, see Small-Lea 
Erfurt. 

Xr Plus Oltra. — A fine early variety, derived 
from th<> Giant Naples, having well-filled hei 
often nine inches in diameter. Highly recom- 
mended by Wblfner and Weisz of Vienna, lmt lit- 
r0WD in this country. 

Nonpar] el. In most American catalogues this is 
given as synonymous with Half Early Paris. Buist 
and Ravi it as a separate variety, and 

Brill mentioned it in 1872 as a distinct variety. 
At tli<« New York experiment station, in l v ^ 
variety called Thorbnrn's Nonpareil matured among 
the half early sorts al Lenormand 

Short stem. J. M Thorbnrn & Co. write me 
in L891 that Nonpareil is a name which they gave 
irlj Paris when they first introduced 
thai variety to the trade m this count 

. ! '• LN & G< M >DWIS C '- M' 

Model. 

P \nii.i \. see Early Padilla. 

lermo \ i ■! : !. A. variety catalogued \>\ W 
oer and Weisz, of Vienna, in l sv ^. 

r tjE8. A. variety with fine white heads, usually 
classed with the Broccolis. ( Catalogued by Vilmorin, 
in 1890. 

Paris, rly I 'arts. 

Pi Storm J. S. Pear* e&( 'o.'a Sti 



166 THE CAULIFLOWEB. 

Storm). — This variety, introduced by these seeds- 
men, of London, Canada, 1886, appears from their 
description to be a selection from the Dwarf 
Erfurt. 

Pearl (VeitcWs Pearl). — A good second-early 
sort sent out about eight years ago; said by some 
to be too near King in character. It seems to be 
no longer grown. 

Perfection (March's No. 9). — Received from H. 
A. March, of Fidalgo, Washington, and grown at 
the Oregon experiment station in 1890, it was 
found to be equally good with Snowball, and similar 
in growth to Mt. Blanc, but with a little smaller head. 

Mr. March writes me as follows, under date of 
April 3, 1891: 

" My Early Perfection, or ' No. 9,' was a sport 
or, ' stray seed ' found among some Erfurt Ear- 
liest Dwarf, imported seed; and being the first 
in the field to form a head by over a week, I 
naturally saved it for ' stock seed,' and as it 
propagated itself perfectly, and as it was perfection 
itself, I named it Early Perfection. I am not 
aware of another by the name of Perfection in the 
market." 

Picpus Early Hardy. — At the New York experi- 
ment, station in 1885 this proved to be a large, 
rather early sort. Vilmorin includes it in his latest 
catalogue, but it is not in the American catalogues. 



VARIETIES. 161 

Prize {Mamie's Prize Earliest). — An Erfurt va- 
riety sent out by Win. H. Maule, of Philadelphia. 

Puritan, Bee Early Puritan. 

Raws* nt's Extra Early Sea Foam. — Said by Raw 
son in 1886 to be the best forcing variety; dwarf. 
very compact, with large, arm, well-rounded heads, 
pure white, and of the best quality*. At the Ohio 
experiment station iu l ss '.' it appeared to be the 
sain.' as Marly [ Extra Early] Erfurt 

Rice's Gh - Snowball. A Late Bort, which 
failed to head well at the New Xork experiment 
Btati< >n in I ss ^. 

St. Brieuc, Bee Half Early St. Brieuc. 

Small Leaved Erfurt (Earliest Dwarf Small- 
Leaved Erfurt, Narrow Leaved Erfurt). This, 
cording to Brill, differs from " Erfurt Extra Dwarf 
Earliest'' in having very uarrow, pointed leaveswhich 
grow perfectly upright, thus adapting it for close 
cultivation or for forcing. It grows rapidly, which 
adapts it for spring cultivation; and for a fall crop 
it maybe sown Later than any other variety— on 
Lonjj Island usually as late as Julj Let 

Snow's Winteb White. A Late variety usually 
classed with the Broccoli-. 

Snowbaj 1.. Bee Early Snowball. 

Stadtholder. — Burr, in L866, said. ■■ A recent 
variety introduced from Holland . . . Inthevicin- 
it\ of London, where it is largely cultivated for the 



168 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

mediate between the Early Dutch and Walcheren. 
The stem is a little shorter than that of other Hol- 
land cauliflowers [which have rather tall stems], 
and the leaves are more undulated on the border." 
The Stadtholder appears to be a good sort, but 
hardly equal to Autumn Giant and some others 
which protect the head better, and which have now 
largely displaced it in cultivaiion. It has never 
been grown to any extent in the United States. 

Surprise, see Early Dwarf Surprise. 

Sutton's Favorite. — Said by Sutton & Sons, of 
Reading, England, to be seven to twelve days earlier 
than Early London, of level and compact habit, and 
good to succeedSutton's Magnum Bonum. 

Sutton's First Crop. — Said to bo the earliest to 
head, very dwarf and compact, having snowy white 
heads, and so few leaves that it may be planted 
closer than any other kind. 

Sutton's King. — Said by Sutton & Sons to be 
the best cauliflower for general use, coming in im- 
mediately after Sutton's Favorite. Plant dwarf 
and compact, with large, firm, beautifully white 
heads. Endures drouth well. Said to produce a 
greater weight on a given area than other other 
market, it is considered equal, if not superior, to 
the Walcheren/' Vilmorin describes it as follows: 
" Very near Early Dutch, being distinguished 
mainly by being a few days later, being thus inter- 



YAKIETIF.S. 109 

variety. Heads have been grown weighing 28 
pounds. 

Sutton's Magnum Bonum.— Sutton in 1S88 Bays: 
"We introduced this cauliflower to our customers 
last year as the finest and nio-t delicately flavored 
variety we have grown." Heads large, firm, Bnowy 
white; plant medium early, of strong, dwarf, habit 
and broad leaves, which "are serviceable for shading 
the heads.' 9 

Sutton's Snowball.— A very early dwarf variety 
mentioned in the OarcU n in L875. 

Tabanto. Offered as new by J. M Thorbnrn, in 
L 891, and -aid to be verj large and to resemble 
Autumn ( Kant 

Thobbubn's EjAbli Snowball (Thorbnrn, 1890). 
— No description. 

Thobbubn's Gilt Edge. Gregory says in 1890: 
"This is undoubtedly the finesi strain of the Snow 
ball variety. It is a little later and larger than the 
common Snowball, and can be left longer in the 
field without decaying. I considered it the best of 
all the do/en varieties raised in my experimental 
grounds fchis season." 

Thobbubn's Nonpareil, see Nonpareil 

Thobbubn's Wondpbtul. — At the New York ex- 
periment station in 1883 this variety matured with 
Veitch's Autumn Giant and Walcheren, and was 

larger than either of those. At the same station in 
1 1 



170 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

1885 a variety called Wonderful, probably the same, 
was the latest of 30 sorts, being sown March 30th, 
set out May 4th, and gathered Oct. 27th. 

Vaughn's Earliest Dwarf Erfurt. — In his cata- 
logue for 1891, Vaughn says that this is the high- 
est priced and finest strain of the Earliest Dwarf 
Erfurt, imported from Erfurt Germany. This 
strain has been imported by him for several years. 
He remarks that many strains of Dwarf Erfurt are 
given special names by other seedsmen. 

Veitch's Autumn Giant (Autumn Giant, Giant 
Naples, Frankfort Giant). — No other new variety 
of cauliflower has attracted so much attention as 
this. It was introduced into England about 1 8(39, 
since when it has become very popular there for a 
late crop and for summer. It is rather too late for 
the ordinary fall crop in this country, though a 
favorite with some growers on both the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts. 

It was described by Vilmorin in 1883, as follows, 
under the name Giant Naples, but is now sold by 
him as Autumn Giant: '"Plant large and vigorous, 
stem rather tall, leaves abundant, somewhat undu- 
lated, of a deep green. The interior leaves turn in 
well over the head, which is very large, solid, and 
white. It is a late variety of the same period as 
Walcheren, but less hardy. At the north it can be 



VARIETIES. 171 

employed for the latest crop in open air culture In 
being sown in April or May." 

In 1884 Vincent Berthault gave the following 
account of this variety in the 7/< vut Horticoh : 
"Thia variety is still rare and little known in 
France. I planted it last year for trial and ob- 
tained results which were the admiration of all who 
saw them. It was from my small crop that I took 
the four which I had the honor to present to the 
Centra] Horticultural Society of France al it- i 
ing ,,n Angus! 25, L883. Some of these cauli- 
flowers were 35 t< 38 centimeters [more than a 
fool | in diameter, and weighed, including stem and 
leaves, L2 to L3 kilograms [nearly 30 pounds] 
which is extraordinarj for thia time of the year, 
when it i- difficult to obtain cauliflowers of even 
ordinary size. At on., time 1 feared thai their size 
was to the detriment of their quality, but it has 
proved otherwise, and in all ■•> the} 

(•client, and a- good a- beautiful. In fact they are 
perfect 

"Thegeneral characters of the Autumn (limit 
differ materially from those of other varieties. 

" The young seedling- become at once very tall 
and upright, ami even after being sot out and 
planted as deep a- the first leaves they quickly 
assume their usual stellate appearance, and for 
about six weeks they are -imply furnished with 



172 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

eight or ten long narrow leaves borne on a long 
stem. So up to this time the plants are not very 
promising, and one is tempted to pull them up; but 
after this the plants rapidly change in appearance; 
a dozen new leaves are quickly developed, and the 
plants take on a half-upright form which recalls 
that of the Half Early Paris variety. As to the 
head, it is more conical than flat. The leaves 
sometimes attain a length of 90 centimeters [nearly 
three feet], by 40 centimeters broad. It is then 
that extra care should be given. The waterings 
ought to be copious and frequent, especially at the 
time of the formation of the heads, when I apply 
about 10 to 15 litres of water to each head every 
other day. This, which certainly contributed to 
the good result, is how I grew my plants. I chose 
good soil, which I prepared during the winter, 
placing in the bottom of the furrow a good thick- 
ness of manure, and a month before planting, or 
even at the time of doing so, I spread on the sur- 
face a covering of decomposed manure, which I in- 
corporated with the soil by means of ordinary 
tillage. I visited the plantation every day, 
not only to destroy the caterpillars, but to cover the 
heads with leaves, which it was necessary to look 
after at least every other day in order to preserve 
the whiteness of the heads. These attentions are 
indispensable if one would secure a product of first 



VARIETIES. 1 73 

quality, free from insects. As to sowing the seed, 
it may be begun about the 15th of September, and 
the plants wintered over under hand glasses, or in 
frames, to be set out in March, when heads will be 
obtained in July. The plant- of this sowing may 
also be set in hot beds in January and February, 
but this only in default of other varieties, for fchey 
will I- 1 t" i tall and spreading. - 

"It is in February, on a bed with mild heal and 
under glass, thai [make my sowing to obtain plants 
which are to head in August ami September, and 
which give my best return-. A final Bowing ma\ 
be made at the end <>f March or beginning of April ; 
it matures it- crop in I I I er and November. 

"My opinion of the Autumn Giant is thai it is des- 
tined to play an important part in the market- 
gardening of the country when, probably in the 
near future, there shall have been produced dwarf 
varieties analogous to those which we already pos- 
Erom other Borts." 

Veitch's Earli Forcing. This variety "has 
small compact hearts, very close and white. The 
habit of the plant is dwarf and sturdy, and it Is 
well adapted for forcing." ■{ < ;<//■</> ning UlustraU <L 
1885, p. 427). It is favorably mentioned by several 
writers in the Gardener's Chronicle for L884 and 
1885. In the Garden for L882 Veitch's Early is 
said to be two weeks earlier than Early London. 



174 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Veitch's Pearl, see Pearl. 

Veitch's Self-Protecting. — Said by the Gar- 
dener's Chronicle, in 1874, to be a new variety, 
just tested by Mr. Veitch, much later than Autumn 
Giant, hardy, and very self- protecting. 

Vice's Ideal. — James Vick says in 18 ( J0: "We 
introduced the ' Ideal ' to public notice in 1886, 
and claimed for it superiority to any other 
variety in the following points: Reliability of head- 
ing, size and solidity of heads, earliness, and pro- 
tective habit of inner leaves." Further tests by 
himself and others he says substantiate these claims. 
The plants are said to be very dwarf, with erect 
outer leaves. At the New York experiment station, 
in 1889, it was a few days later than the three 
other varities on trial. At the Ohio station the 
same year it was considered one of the best strains 
of Early [Extra Early] Erfurt. 

Vienna Child. — Catalogued by Wolfner and 
Weisz, of Vienna, in 188S, at the highest price, as 
a line new market- garden sort. 

Vienna Early Dwarf, see Early Dwarf Vienna. 

Waite's Alma, see Alma. 

Walcheren. — This old German variety is inter- 
mediate in character between the true cauliflowers 
and the broccolis, and it has, from the first, been 
frequently called Walcheren Broccoli. There seems 
to have originally been two varieties, Early and 



\ A1IIKT 1 i 5 

Late The earliest appearance of the name 
AYalcheren that I have seen is in an advertisement 
of Walcheren cauliflower Beed in the Gfardener , 8 
Chronicle for 18-11. Since that time it has re- 
mained one of the most reliable and popular 
varieties with English growers. 

Mcintosh, in his " Hook of the ( tarden," in L855, 
said thai it was hard to gei pure Beed: "The true 
Walcheren is distinguished from all others by its 
blunt 1 \ rounded and broad leave-, and the close- 
aess and almost Bnowy whiteness of it-- head-, even 
when grown to a large Bize." Others, before this, 
state that it was sold on the Continent under the 
name of Earl} Leyden. 

Burr, in L866, records it as synonymous with 
both Early Leyden, and 1 - Walcheren broc- 

coli or cauliflower. He describes it as resisting 
both cold and drouth better than other varieties, 
■ in short, leave- broad, Less pointed and more 
undulated than those of the cauliflower usually are."* 

Vilmorin described it in L883 as Bynonymous 
with Walcheren Broccoli, known in Holland as 
Late Walcheren. He said: "The Latest and most 
hardy of the cauliflowers, and therefore intermediate 
between the cauliflowers and the broccolis, with 
which latter it is often classed. Stem high and 
strong, leaves elongated, rather stiff and upright, 
abundant, and of a slightly grayish green. The 



176 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



head forms very late, and is fine, large, and very- 
white, of fine close grain. The seed requires to be 
sown at Walcheren, [an island on the coast of Hol- 
land] in April, in order to be certain of heading 
before frost. If sown later it often passes the 
winter and heads early in the spring." 

Sibley, in 1887, sold this variety under the name 
of Early Walcheren, though giving it the usual 
characters and season of the ordinary late sort. 
Buist, in 1890, mentions it as a favorite, very hardy, 
late variety. It is sold by most of our seedsmen, 
but is less popular in this country than in England. 
Sutton, the English seedsman, describes it in his 
latest catalogue as an "excellent mid-season cauli- 
flower." It is less liable to button in dry weather 
than most other varities, but sometimes forms im- 
perfect heads. 

Webb's Early Mammoth. — A variety advertised 
as follows by Webb & Sons of Wordsley, Stour- 
bridge, England, in The Garden, Feb. 9, 1878: 
"An excellent compact variety; stands the drought 
remarkably well ; heads large, firm, and beautifully 
white. The best of all for the main crop." 

Wellington. — Introduced about 1860. Hender- 
son & Co. describe it as the finest kind in 
cultivation; pure white; size of head over two feet 
in circumference, and as large as thirteen inches 
diameter; very dwarf, the stem not more than two 
or three inches from the soil, but with ample 



ORDER OF EARLINESS. 1 < < 

foliage: one of the hardiest varieties known, and 
said to withstand well the variable climate of the 
United States. C. G. Anderson & Sons of Eng- 
land, in 1880, claimed it to be earlier, white, and 
closer than Early London. 

A writer in the New England Farmer^ in L871, 
speaks of it as larger than either Early Erfurt or 
Early Paris. 

Wonderful, see Thorbum'8 Wonderful 

OBDl B OF i: LB] IM 

The following varieties cover t) ion, and 

are arranged in the order of earliness, as aear as can 
be determined. .Many well known kinds are 
omitted, and some little known Borts inserted, the 

only attempt being to form a scale of maturity: 
Early Dwarf Erfurt 
Extra Early Paris. 
Early London. 
Asiatic. 
Early Erfurt 
Early Paris. 

Lenormand short Stem. 
Late Paris. 
St. Brieue. 
Algiers. 

Veitch's Autumn Giant. 
Giant Naples. 
Y< 'itch's Self -Protecting. 
Late Italian Giant. 
Walcheren. 



178 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



VARIETY TEST?. 

New York Experiment Station (Geneva). — In 
1883 the following twenty-two varieties were 
sown April 16, and eleven plants of each variety 
set ont May 15. One variety, however, Rice's 
Giant Snowball, was sown May 13, and set out 
June 20. Treatment was the same as for cabbage. 



Variety. 



Algiers 

Algerian Late 

Berlin Dwarf 

Carter's Defiance 

Carter's Dwarf Mammoth. . . 

Earliest Dwarf Erfurt 

Erfurt Early Dwarf 

Early Dutch 

Early London 

Extra Early Paris 

Gerry Island 

Imperial 

Italian Giant White 

Large Late London 

Large White French 

Lenormand's Short-Stemm'd 

Rice's Giant Snowball 

Snowball 

Stadtholder 

Thorburn's Wonderful 

Veitch's Autumn Giant 

Walcheren 



03 02 

2 ^ 

X\ o2 

92 
?H 

s 



159 
142 
124 
124 
124 
124 
131 
142 
129 
142 
133 
119 
175 
128 
105 
128 
152 
128 
128 
128 
128 
128 



02 


m 


-+J 




a 


o3 


03 


<x> 


ft 


X\ 


e(— i 


ew 


o 


O 


6 


6 


fc 


fc 


6 


5 


9 


1 


8 


2 


7 


6 


6 


2 


10 


4 


6 


3 


7 


3 


6 


4 


3 


2 


3 


3 


8 


7 


6 


1 


6 


5 


8 


8 


5 


5 


7 


1 


5 


4 


6 


5 


4 


4 


6 


3 


3 


3 



^ 2 

Z, w o 

a <° rt 



9 
6 
5 

9 
7 
5 
6 
9 
9 
6 
10 
10 
7 
6 
8 
4 
6 
9 
6 
6 
6 



VARIETY TESTS. 1 <9 

In 1 S M, the following twenty varieties were 
grown. The seeds were sown in a green-house 
March 5 and 0, and the plants set out May 2. It 
appears from the table that some of the varieties 
called " late," formed heads earlier than others 
called " early." The Lenormand Extra Large was 
the earliest, forming its first head in 1 L9 days, the 
Lackawanna heading a day later. None of the 
heads were extra large: 



Vakii I ^ . 



Dwarf Erfurl 

Early I >utch or Earl} L tndoo . . 

Earl) I )\\ art' Surprise 

Eclipse 

Balf Early Large White French 

Bali-Early Paris 

Imperial 

Lackawanna 

Large Algiers 

Large Late Asiatic 

Large Late Stadtholder 

Late < rianl Italian 

Late Paris 

Lenormand's Extra Large 

Lenormand's Short-Stemmed. . . 

Paris Ivxtra Karly 

Sea Foam 

Veitch's Aut iimn Giant 

Very Dwarf Alleaume 

Walcheren 



First bead in 
da) . 


Plants sun ived. 


L82 


1 




5 


17.. 


6 


L62 


7 


L90 




L97 


8 


L60 


8 


L50 


9 


• 


6 


L56 


4 




8 


L54 


8 


1T(| 


4 


L49 


- 


i.;i 


8 


i:.l 


6 


L82 


3 


L82 


6 


189 


8 


L82 


6 



- 2 

- - 



y. 



180 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

In 1885 the following varieties were planted in 
the green-house March 30, and sixteen plants of 
each, with a few exceptions, transplanted to the 
garden May 4. The plants of Algiers and Le Maitre 
Pied Court were transplanted May 20, and those of 
the "Wonderful May 2 1 . The plants were set in rows 
three and one-half feet apart, and eighteen inches 
apart in the rows. Many were destroyed by vari- 
ous causes, and though the places were twice reset 
there were many vacancies. 

As will be seen, Henderson's Early Snowball 
(from Henderson in 1885) was the earliest, form- 
ing the first head July 8, or ninety-seven days 
from sowing the seed. The heads also were rather 
above the average in size. Extra selected Dwarf 
Erfurt was the second in earliness and every plant 
headed. 

A notable fact brought out by this table is the 
effect of the early planting on the late and half- 
early varities. It might be supposed, as these 
varities require a long season, that this early 
planting would give the best results, enabling 
them to attain their full development. But it 
appears that it caused many of the plants to head 
prematurely when small, while it greatly pro- 
longed the season of the variety. 



VARIETY TESTS. 



1S1 



Variety. 




Algiers Vug. 

Alleaume Sept. 

Aut uiiiii ( J i ;iii t 

.D'Alt^r •• 

Demi dur de St. Brieuc 

Early Dutch durd' Holland) Vug. 

Early Dwarf Erfurt (Thorb n ...inly 
Early I >warf Erfurl | Vilmorin I... 

Elarly London Vug. 

Early Paris July 

Earl) Picpus Vug. 

Early Snowball July 

Extra B. Dw'f Erfurt Bend'son). Sept. 



Exl ra E'ly I 'w'f Erfurt 1 horb'n I 
Extra Earliest Paris Vilmorin)... 

Ext ra Early Paris 

Extra Selected E'ly Dwarf Erfurt 

Half Early Dwarf French 

I [alf Early Paris Th< irburn) 

Half Early Paris Vilmorin 

Henderson's Early Snowball 

I tnperial 

Landrel h's Pirsl 

Large Early L mdon 

Larjir Late Asiatic 

Late Giant Naples Oct 

Late Paris Vug. 



July 

Vug. 

July 



Aug. 
Sept. 
July 

Aug. 
July 
Oct. 
Vug. 



Lat»> st ,- u It holder 

Le M;ii' re Pied ( Jourt. 



Aug. 
Lenormand Sept 



Len'm'd short stem'd 1 1 lend'son 
Len'm'd Short-stem'd (Vilmorin 

Purple Cape (Noir de Sicilie) 

Thorburn's Nonpareil 

Veitoh's Autumn Giant 

Walcheren (Henderson) 

Walcheren | V T ilmorin) 

Wonderful 



Aug. 
July 

Aug. 

.. 

Sept. 

.. 

Aug. 
Oct. 



11 
24 
•Jl 
L5 
15 
25 
L3 
L3 

■s, 

5 

:;i 

•J7 
L3 
LO 

•jr. 
•Ji 

•ji 
L5 

8 

l.i 
l:; 
•J7 
25 

r 

L2 

< 

11 
L5 
11 
25 
10 
11 
24 

1 



22 

5 

17 
11 
11 
12 

11 

L6 
11 
12 
17 
L8 
L2 

7 

L3 
L3 
12 
12 
11 
L2 
LO 

6 
14 
11 

5 
Ki 
11 
L5 
L2 
20 
12 
L2 

13 
4 
6 

7 



1 -- 

- .- - 

~ •— - 

- 3 - 

& ^ - 



L9 

4 
17 
L2 
11 

8 
11 

4 
L2 

6 
LO 
L5 

8 
11 



L3 

7 
11 

11 

- 
5 

4 
7 
:; 

7 

6 

L3 

LO 

11 
7 
8 
G 

11 
4 
6 
6 



7.V 
7" 
7 

"•• 

7 

5 

5 
5 
7 
5 \ 

B 

. 
6 



6 7 
6 6 



o 

~\ 
•;i 

7 
7 

D 

«;" 

i 
l 

5 

7" 
6] 
6 

7 

81 
: 

7.i 
J 

r> 



182 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



The following early varities were tested in 1888. 
The seeds were all sown May 10, and the plants set 
out June 23, two by three and one-half feet. All 
the varities headed well, except one called " Early," 
from the English Specialty and Novelty Seed Co., 
which formed no heads. 







■y m 




U U2 






O -|_> 


O rA 


£ 3 


Variety. 


Seeds from. 


dg 


6 % 


^3 © 






*ift 


£^ 




Dreer's E'st Snowstorm 


Dreer. 


11 


8 


Sept. 24 


Earliest Dwarf Erfurt. 


Vaughn. 


9 


5 


6 


Extra E. Dwarf Erfurt. 


Tillinghast. 


9 


4 


29 


Gilt-edge Snowball 


Thorburn. 


12 


10 


Aug. 25 


Henderson's E. Snowb'l 


Henderson. 


12 


8 


Sept. 6 


Long Island Beauty . . . 


Tillinghast. 


11 


8 


" 14 


Long Island Beauty . . . 


Bragg. 


12 


11 


Aug. 25 


New Early Padilla 


Tillinghast. 


11 


8 


29 



At the same station, in 1889, the following varie- 
ties were tested. Tne seed was sown in frames 
April 23, and the plants set out June 22. The 
Early Erfurt and Early Snowball were from seed 
grown by H. A. March, of Fidalgo, Washington. 



Variety, 



Early Puritan. 
Early Erfurt. . 

Snowball 

Vick's Ideal.. . 



rn 


o 


o 


;-, 03 


«H 




H3 


P^i 


© 

© 


s^ 


X 


20 


Ferrv. 


March. 


20 


March. 


20 


Vick. 


20 







eM 


© 




O 


U 02 






o p 




Ph pS 


«I-C 




© 2 


© 




-^ S 


■43 , — 1 




r* © 


££ 




2^5 


H. eg 






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VARIETY TE8TS. 183 

The season of 1889 was uncommonly favorable 
for the cauliflower, and it will be seen from the 
above table that these varieties headed with greater 
uniformity and from two to four weeks earlier than 
the same or similar varieties the proceeding year. 

Colorado Experiment Station Fori Collins). — 
The following report, slightly condensed, from the 
report of the < Jolorado experiment -tat ion for l^ s \ 
will be useful for comparison: "Seed of sixteen 
varieties of cauliflower was sown April L2 in hoi 
bed and transplanted to the open ground May 7. 
They were Irrigated at planting time, and on May 
I 1 and *J S . June 1 1. July 5 and 20, A.ugusl 3 and 
1 5 and on September 5. Tin' area in crop was "Mr- 
third of an acre and the Btand nearly perfect. The 
plants were hoed twice and cultivated six times. 
The soil, a clay loam, was Lacking in fertility for 
the best culture of the cabbage and the cauliflower. 
Of the varieties grown, Henderson's Snowball was 
the best, with the latter's Erfurt a good second. 
These two types, when well selected, are the only 
one- that can be relied upon to give profitable re- 
sults in Colorado." 

It will be noticed in the table that Earl} Paris 
and Early London, two varieties which have lono- 
been popular at the East, entirely failed to head. 



184 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



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VARIETY TESTS. 1 ST, 

Michigas Experiment Station (Lansing). — The 
Michigan experiment station is connected with the 
Agricultural College, located at Lansing, at the 
geographical centre of the Lower Peninsula It 
is, therefore, remote from any large body of water, 
and although tlic soil in that portion of the state is 
mainly a strong loam suitable fur cauliflower, it is 
. only in favorable seasons that good cauliflowers can 
be obtained 

'" the exceptionally favorable season <>f 1889, 
some of the Borts then prominently before the pub 
li<-. were grown at the college, all of which gave 
alts, with the exception of Autumn 
Giant, which failed to germinate The American 
grown seeds, from II. A. March, of Fidalgo, Wash- 
ington, were Large and [.lump and gave Btrong rig- 
orous plants, and as good or better results than is 
usually obtained from imported seed The follow- 
ing varieties were bowu March L3, and Bel out May 
1 ( - h was difficult to detect any difference be- 
tween Puritan, Gill Edge, Denmark, Prize Earliest, 
Best Early, Snowball, and Erfurt, as they showed 
-■niation than appeared between the same sorts 

from different seed-mien. 

The title -edible maturity"' in the table refers to 
the period at which the heads might 1... cut for 
one's own me. that is when they had attained the 
size of one's two lists. -Marketable maturity" is 
when they had completed their growth and would 
remain solid no longer. 



12 



186 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



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BEST VARIETIES. 18 » 

THE BEST VARIETIES. 

The points to consider in selecting varieties are 
first, earliness or time of maturity, second, the cer- 
tainty of their forming good head-. The im- 
portance of having well grown seed has already 
been mentioned. This being secured, the choice <> r 
varieties is largely a matter <>f circumstances. A 
variety which is good for one "climate Or for <>ne 

purpose; may not be u r '""l for another. For the 
early crop, an account of which has already beeD 
given, the earliesi variety obtainable should be 
used, a- our springs at the N<>:-th are short enough 
at best The Earliesi Dwarf Erfurt strains include 
nearly all the earliesi varieties now grown, ami. for 
this country, at least, are the best The ty] 
variety is usually Bold and< r the aame Extra Early 
Dwarf Erfurt, ami if properly selected Beed i- 
secured, this i- nearly or quite a- earlj a- anj of 
tli.' strains which have received special names. 
Amnin' the best of these latter arc Henderson's 
Snowball, Thorburn's Gill Edge, and Vick's Ideal. 
the latter a little the largest and latest lor grow- 
ing under glass the first two of these varieties are 
as good as any. The earliest varieties are now often 
grown also for the fall crop, particularly at the 
North, by being sown late. Their greater certainty 
to head on time, and the increased number that can 



188 • THE CAULIFLOWER. 

be grown on an acre, renders them especially valu- 
able. 

A variety which in the past has given the most 
general satisfaction for the fall crop is Early Paris. 
Of the later maturing varieties, Veitch's Autumn 
Giant and Lenormand Short- stem, have been, 
and are stil], popular, especially at the South. At 
present probably more than three fourths of the 
cauliflowers grown in this country are of the new 
varieties of the Dwarf Erfurt group. For the 
North, especially, these are now the most reliable 
and are increasing in popularity. 



CHAPTER IX 



BROCCOLI. 

The Broccolis are so similar to the cauliflowers 
that some account of them ma) be expected in a 
treatise on the Latter vegetable. In fact, no im- 
portant structural difference between the two vege 
table- exists, the broccolis being merely a more 
robust and hardy group «>f varieties, requiring a 
longer period for development, and adapted, in 
mild climate-. t<» cultivation during the winter. 
They are. in fact, often called " winter cauliflowers." 
They receive but little attention in the United 
States, where the winter-, at least at the north, in 
the vicinity of the leading markets, are t<»<> severe 
for the out-door growth of vegetables "f any kind. 
For tlii- reason cauliflowers, which come to maturity 
in a single season, are grown instead. The supply 
of these two vegetables, therefore, which in western 
Europe, by means of successive sowings <>f varieties 
of both cauliflowers and broccolis, may be main- 
tained the year round, is here, owing to the condi- 
tions of our climate, confined chiefly to the seasons 
of the year in which cauliflower can be obtained. 

Although no sharp distinctions can be drawn 
between broccolis and cauliflowers, there are cer- 



190 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

tain general differences which separate them. 
As has been said, the broccolis are all of them 
hardier than the cauliflowers, and require a 
longer time in which to develop, so that in climates 
having mild winters they are usually treated as 
biennials. In France, the seed which is sown 
about the first of May gives plants which head the 
following spring before the early cauliflowers come 
in. The plants are sometimes enabled to pass the 
winter more safely by being taken up and planted 
again in a slanting position. 

In the. appearance of the heads no difference 
exists between cauliflowers and broccolis, except 
that the latter are usually smaller, less compact, 
and sometimes purple or sulphur colored. All 
cauliflowers (with one or two exceptions), have 
white compact heads. The stems of the broccolis 
are usually taller than those of cauliflowers, the 
leaves more numerous, larger, stiffer, but more 
undulated, more rounded at the apex, and more fre- 
quently having a distinct stem or petiole. The mid- 
ribs and principal veins are large and white, except 
in varieties having colored heads, when they have 
the same color as the head. The color of the leaves 
is always more glaucous, that is, of a darker and 
more bluish green, than is usual in the cauliflowers. 

Broccolis, especially the colored varieties, are 
sometimes said to be more tender in texture and 



BROCCOLI. 



19] 



liner in flavor than the cauliflowers. This, however, 
is due only to the fact that they usually head in 
cool weather. When grown under the same condi- 
tions the cauliflowers are milder than the broccolis, 
and although to some tastes the more pronounced 
flavor of the Latter may be preferred, most persons 
use broccoli only because in the winter season fresh 
cauliflowers cannot be obtained 

Nearly every one prefers cauliflower to broccoli, 
and the mild white varieties to the colored varie- 
of the latter vegetable. Broccolis sometimes 
acquire a bitter taste, the cause of which is not 
known. The method- of using the two vegetables 
are the Bame, excepl thai the branching or sprout 
ing broccolis are also cooked like asparagus. 

The earlj history of the broccoli has already 
been treated in connection with that of the cauli- 
flower. 

The number of varieties of broccoli in cultiva- 
tion is probably somewhat Less than those of the 
cauliflower, but the differences between the varie- 
t ies themselves are greater. Messrs. Sutton & Sons, 
of Beading, England, catalogue thirty Bis varieties 
of broccoli and only eleven of cauliflower. Most 
of these varieties originated in England, where 
broccoli is more largely grown than anywhere else. 
Two groups of broccolis may be recognized, the 
"sprouting broccolis." which do not form compact 



192 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

heads, and the improved varieties with well formed 
heads, known as "cauliflower broccolis." The lat- 
ter differ but little in any way from true cauli- 
flowers. 

The requirements of cultivation for the broccolis 
are practically the same as those for cauliflowers. 
Their value depends mainly on their greater hardi- 
ness, and on this account they are likely, at the 
South where the winters are mild enough, to be- 
come more extensively cultivated. They do not, 
however, endure hot weather as well as cauliflow- 
ers, and on this account it is doubtful if they 
ever become as largely grown anywhere in this 
country as they are in England. 

The question of protecting them in winter, and 
the amount and kind of protection needed, depend 
of course on the severity of the winters. In North- 
ern Florida, where cauliflowers are liable to be 
killed during winter, broccolis will stand out with- 
out any protection. In localities where but little 
protection is required, it may be afforded by loosen- 
ing the roots and turning the plants down upon 
their sides. If more protection is needed they may 
be taken up and set in trenches and partly covered 
with straw and boards. Broccolis stand shipment 
better than cauliflowers. This is not only because 
they are generally handled in colder weather, but 
because they are somewhat coarser and firmer in 



BROCCOLI. 



193 



texture. They do not sell for quite so good a price 
as cauliflowers. There are seven varieties cata- 
logued by American seedsmen, of which the Early 
Purple Cape is the best adapted to our climate. 



CHAPTEE X. 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 

"Of all the flowers in the garden, I like the Cauliflower 
best." I ,|; - B VMI ' '• Johns 

Dr. Johnson appreciated, good living, and 
therefore it is not surprising thai he -honld have 
left on record this tribute to the most delicate and 
finely flavored <>f all the cabbage family. 

Cauliflower is so rarely Been in market in the 
United States, except in large cities, that compar- 
atively few of our people are accustomed to using 
it. On this account a variety of receipts for cook- 
ing cauliflower are here given, in order to make 
the methods of using this excellent vegetable more 
widely known. Americans, especially, need to be- 
oome familiar with it- use; for to the English, 
French, and Germans, who have known it in the 

Old World, it needs do introduction. 

Cauliflower lend- itself readily to both plain and 
fancy method- of cooking. It is easy of digestion, 
and is an especial favorite with those who, from any 
reason, are unable to readily digest cabbage. B ; > 
sides, it is more nutrition- than the cabbage, and it 
is not exceeded in this particular by any other 
garden vegetable. 



196 



THE CAULIFLOWER, 



The following tables show the comparative com- 
position of fresh cabbage and cauliflower, and the 
composition of the ash of the latter. It will be 
noticed that the percentage of ash and indigestible 
fibre is low in the cauliflower, and the amount of 
nitrogenous and starchy matter high. 

ANALYSIS OF CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 
(Konig's Nokrungsniittel, pp. 715, 717). 





Cabbage. 


Cauliflower. 


Water 


89.97 
1.89 
0.20 
2.29 
2.58 
1.84 
1.23 


90 87 


Fat 


2.48 
0.34 


Sugar 


1.21 


Nitrogen free extract 
(starch, dextrine, etc.)... . 

Fiber 


3.34 
91 


Ash 


0.83 







ANALYSIS OF CAULIFLOWER ASH. 
(Whitner's Gardening in Florida). 

Potassa 34.39 

Soda 14.79 

Lime 2 96 

Magnesia 2.38 

Sulphuric Acid 11.16 

Silicic Acid 1.92 

Phosphoric Acid 25.87 

Phosphate of Iron 3.67 

Chloride of Sodium 2.78 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 197 

Cauliflower is not wholly free from the odor 
which renders the cooking of cabbage so unpleas- 
ant, but in this respect it is much less objectionable 
than cabbage. As with cabbage, this odor is in 
some cases more marked than in others, depending 
on the character of the soil, and the quantity and 
nature of the manure used A small piece of red 
pepper added to the water in which cauliflower or 
cabbage is boiled prevent:- to a large extent this un- 
pleasant odor and improves their flavor. To ob- 
viate the "strong" flavor which these vegetables 
acquire when Large quantities of Btable manure are 
ased the heads should be pasboiled in the morning 
of the day on which they arc wanted. They are 
then put on a hair sieve and placed in the Larder. 
Twenty minutes before they are wanted Eor the 
table they are to be reboiled steadily until the 
strong taste is gone. 

When cauliflowers are preserved in a shed or 
cellar they often become more or less wilted and 
strong in flavor, and can then be rendered palatable 
only by cutting them off from the stalks on the 
previous day and throwing them into cold, salted 
water, frequently changing it until they are wanted; 
in this way the heads become plumped up, and the 
strong disagreeable smell and taste which they 
have acquired is in some degree removed; but even 
under the most careful treatment they lose their 
tine, white cauliflower color. 



198 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

To remove any caterpillars or other inseccs which 
may have found lodgment in the cauliflower head 
it should be examined as carefully as possible, open- 
ing it a little if necessary. It should then be placed 
top down in cold salt water for an hour; or, better 
still, in cold water and vinegar. This is believed to 
be particularly effective in dislodging any insect life 
that may be present. If the heads seem badly in- 
fested, however, which they seldom are, the only 
safe way is to break them up before cooking. 

In cooking the heads whole, which is a favorite 
method, care is needed not to boil too long, so as 
to cause the head to come to pieces. To prevent 
any danger of breaking the head in cooking, it 
should be wrapped in cheese cloth or other similar 
material, in which it is to be handled. 

Cauliflower is in season in this country from 
June until December, but is most abundant during 
the month of October. Those found in market 
during the hottest summer months are apt to be 
dark in color, somewhat strong in flavor, and rilled 
with small leaves. Broccoli is cooked in nearly all 
cases precisely as cauliflower. 

Porcelain lined or similarly guarded pots should 
be used in which to cook these vegetables, as iron 
is liable to impart to them a dark color. 

The use of earthenware vessels in which to cook 
vegetables of the cabbage tribe is recommended as 
follows by a writer in the American Garden: 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 199 

" To have any of the Brassiere in proper flavor 
we must go to the German housewives and learn of 
them to cook cabbage, cauliflower, etc., in earthen- 
ware instead of metal. The German potters make 
stout boilers, like huge bean-pot-, that hold six or 
eight cabbages, for restaurant cooking, and they 
are quite a different vegetable treated in this way. 
Try the experiment; put a cabbage in a stone jar 
with plenty of water, cover tight and boil till tender. 
I think it docs not take as long to cook in this way 
xl- in ordinary kettle-, the steady mild heat soften- 
ing the tissues more steadily khan the open boiling. 
And there La little or do BmeJJ to cabbage or onions 

cooked in a dose Btone pot in the oven. A cabbage 

baked in it- own -team iii snch a pot and served 

with hot vinegar and butter i- a high flavored 
dish." 

A writer in the Rural A'< n- Yorker sums up the 
prime requirements in cooking cauliflower as fol- 
io w> 

"Four rules never to be deviated from may be 
laid down: first, that the cauliflower 1- to be soaked 
in salt and water for at least a half hour before 
cooking, in order to drive out any insects or worn in 
that may be lurking among the flowerets; second, 
(if to be boiled) when ready for cooking the vege- 
table is to be plunged into salted, thoroughly boil- 
ing water; third, it is not to be cooked a moment 



200 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

after it becomes tender; fourth, to be served as 
soon as done. Neglect of any of these points is 
sure to result in failure, while a careful following 
of them will give a wholesome, delicate dish, and 
one that will be eaten with gusto and remembered 
with pleasure." 

A very simple method of serving cauliflower is 
with milk and butter, after the manner of cabbage, 
but a more elaborate white sauce generally accom- 
panies it. This is the familiar drawn butter sauce, 
to which may be added a little vinegar or lemon 
juice, to give piquancy of flavor. Sometimes this 
sauce is varied by adding milk or cream to the 
flour and butter, when it is called " cream sauce." 

The receipts given below are chiefly from the fol- 
lowing four recent works on cookery : 

"Good Living," by Sara Van Buren Brugiere; 
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1890. 

"The Buckeye Cook-Book"; Buckeye Publish- 
ing Company, Minneapolis, 1887. 

"Our Home Cyclopedia," by Edgar S. Darling; 
Mercantile Publishing Company, Detroit, 1889 

"Mrs. A. B. Marshall's Cookery Book"; Mar- 
shall's School of Cookery, London, 1888. 

1. Boiled {Gardener's Text Booh). — The head 
should be cut with most of the surrounding leaves 
attached, which are to be trimmed off when the 
time comes for cooking. Let it lie haif an hour in 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. ,201 

salt and water, and then boil it in fresh water for 
fifteen or twenty minntes. until a fork will easily 
enter the stem. Milk and water are better than 
water alone [a little sweet milk tends to keep the 
heads white]. Serve with sauce gravy or melted 
butter. 

'-!. Boiled {American Agriculturist). — Boil in 
water, slightly sal ted— never with meat. When tender, 
which will aerially be with twenty minntes eookinff. 

take ap and drain and OOVei with drawn butter 

(white sauce, made with butter, flora and water) 
and serve hot, Tbey are usually eaten without 
other addition, hut some dress with pepper and 
vinegar the same as they do cabbage. 

;, «. Boiled {Good Living:).- Trim off the cut-id.' 
leave-. Leaving one row around the flower. Cut an 
X in the stalk. Have a large pot of boiling water 
on tli«« fire. Add enough milk to whiten the water; 
also one level teaspoonful of salt. The cauliflower 
should be left in vinegar and water for twenty to 
thirty minute- before boiling. This Bystem is sup- 
posed to draw <mt any insects that may lurk within. 
Drain it thoroughly: tie it loosely in a piece of 
cheese-cloth large enough to cover it entirely. Put 
it into the boiling water, which must cover it well. 
Let it boil until quite tender, but be careful that 
it does not go to pieces. As cauliflowers vary very 
much in size, only a general idea of the time re- 
13 



202 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

quired can be given. One of ordinary size will take 
about forty minutes, perhaps more. When cooked 
lift it out by the cheese-cloth, drain very thoroughly, 
and set in a round dish. Make a cream sauce 
(No. 42), pour it over the cauliflower, cover, and 
let it stand for a few minutes for the sauce to pene- 
trate. Then serve. Or, if a handsome specimen 
successfully boiled, serve it in a round dish with a 
white sauce (No. 41 ) served separately in a sauce- 
boat. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce 
before serving. Small cauliflowers will not require 
more than thirty minutes to boil. 

4. Boiled (Buckeye Cook Book). — To each two 
quarts of water allow a heaping teaspoon of salt; 
^choose close and white cauliflower; trim off decayed 
■outside leaves, and cut stock off flat at bottom. 
vOpen flower a little in places to remove insects, 
which are generally found around the stalk, and 
let cauliflowers lie with head downward in salt and 
water for two hours previous to dressing them, 
which will effectually draw out all vermin. Then 
put in boiling water, adding salt in above propor- 
tion, and boil briskly for fifteen or twenty minutes 
.over a good fire, keeping saucepan uncovered. 
Water should be well skimmed, and when cauli- 
flowers are tender, take up, drain, and if large 
enough, place upright in a dish; serve with plain 
melted butter, a little of which may be poured over 



COOK I M- < AULIFLOWJ. K. 203 

the flowers; or a white sauce may be used, made as 
follows: Put butter size of an egg into saucepan, 
and when it bubbles stir in a scant half teacup of 
flour; stir well with an egg whisk until cooked; 
then add two teacups of thin cream, some pepper 
and salt. Stir it over the tire until perfectly 
smooth. Pourthesauce over the cauliflower and 
serve. Many Let the cauliflower simmer in the 
same sauce a few moments before serving. 

Cauliflower is delicious served as a garnish 
around Bpring chicken, or with fried Bweel breads, 
when the white sauce Bhould be poured over both. 
In tlii- case it should be mad*' 1>\ adding tin* cream, 
flour and seasoning to the Uttle grease half a tea 
spoon i thai is left after frying the chickens oi 
sweet-breads. 

5. Baked Buckeyt Cook Book). Prepare as 
for boiling, and parboil five minutes; cut into pieces 
and pul into a pie dish; add a little milk, season 
with Bait, pepper and butter; cover with dry. grated 
cheese, and bake. 

6. Steamed {Mrs. M. I'. A. Crozier). Laj the 
nicely prepared cauliflower head in the deep dish 
from which it is to be served at table. Bprinkle salt 
over it, place it in the steamer, cover closely, and 
steam till tender. Remove to the table, and pour 
over it rich, sweet cream, slightly salted and 
heated. 



204 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

7. Stewed (Gardener's Chronicle). — Cut up your 
cauliflower into sprigs of convenient size to serve 
with a tablespoon, and throw them into cold water 
an hour before cooking. To stew them, have a 
stout, iron stewpan, white-enamelled inside — an 
ordinary tin saucepan or boiler will hardly do. Put 
a large lump of butter into your stewpan as you 
set it over a gentle fire; instead of butter you may 
use the fat taken from the top of cold roast meat 
gravy — that of beef or veal is preferable to that of 
mutton. As the grease melts, stir into it an onion 
chopped very fine, and a little flour and water; con- 
tinue stirring until the whole is nicely browned; 
then put in your sprigged cauliflower, adding only 
just enough water or broth to cook it; season lightly 
w 7 ith pepper and salt, and a very light dust of 
grated nutmeg, if not disapproved; let it stew gently 
till perfectly tender; when done the gravy should 
be so reduced as to be no more in quantity than is 
wanted to serve as sauce with the vegetable; for 
this reason the salt must be used with great moder- 
ation, otherwise, by concentration, the gravy would 
be converted into brine; transfer the cauliflower 
from the stewpan to a hot dish, and pour the 
reduced gravy over it. 

.Note that by this method nothing is lost. The 
natural and nutritive juices of the vegetable, the 
sugar and albumen, are retained instead of being 



COOKING CAUIiIFLOWEB. 205 

drawn out and diluted by boiling in several pints of 
water, and consequently wasted and thrown away. 
Note also that this receipt is founded (like the direc- 
tions for many other good dishes) on the roux — 
Hour browned in butter which is <>ue of the -rand 
elements in French cooker) . 

8. Stewed (Mr. S. J. Soyer*). Cauliflower 
butter, -:ut. Bugar, two and one third ounces 
flour, half a pint of cream, one eighth of tin- soup 
from the cauliflower. 

The cauliflower i- cui into pieces, boiled Blightly 
in salted water, taken out of the soup and pul on 
a colander to drain. The butter and flour are 
baked together and thinned with tin- cream, and 
about tin' quantify of the soup above stated, 
cauliflower is pul into this Bauce and again brought 
to a boil, whereupon it is served warm. 

',». Es< \ii"in- (Rural New Forker). Place a 
Layer of tin 1 parboiled flowerets in a pudding dish, 
and cover them with cream Bauce enough to moisten, 
with the addition of a little grated cheese, usually 
Parmesian; this is to be followed by another layer 
of this vegetable, and the whole covered with bread 
crumbs dotted with hits of butter. 

L0. Escallopkd (Buckey< <'<»>/: Book . Boil till 
tender, drain well, and cut in small pieces; put in 



* Chief Cook at the Court of Denmark. 



206 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

layers, with fine chopped egg, and this dressing: 
Half pint milk, thickened over boiling water, with 
two tablespoons flour and seasoned with two tea- 
spoons salt, one of white pepper and two table- 
spoons butter; put grated bread over the top; dot 
it with small bits of butter and place it in the oven 
to heat thoroughly and brown. Serve in same dish 
in which it was baked. This is a good way to use 
common heads. 

A nicer way is to boil them, then place them 
whole in a buttered dish with stems down. Make 
sauce with a cup of bread crumbs beaten to froth 
with two tablespoons melted butter and three of 
cream or milk, one well- beaten egg, and salt and pep- 
per to taste. Pour this over the cauliflower, cover 
dish tightly, and bake six minutes in a quick oven, 
browning them nicely. Serve as above. 

11. With Stuffing (Home Cyclopedia). — 
Take a saucepan, the exact size of the dish in- 
tended to be used. Cleanse a large, firm, white 
cauliflower, and cut into sprigs, throw those into 
boiling salt water for two minutes; then take them 
out, drain, and pack them tightly with the heads 
downwards, in the saucepan, the bottom of which 
must have been previously covered with thin slices 
of bacon; fill up the vacant spaces with a stuffing 
made of three tablespoonfuls of finely minced 
veal, the same of beef suet, four tablespoonfuls of 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 



207 



bread crumbs, a little pepper and Bait, a teaspoon- 
ful of chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of minced. 
chives and a dozen small mushrooms, chopped line. 
Strew these ingredients over the cauliflowers in 
alternate layers and pour over them three well- 
beaten eggs. When these are well soaked add 
sufficient nicely flavored stock to cover the whole; 
simmer gently till the cauliflowers are tender, and 
the sauce very much reduced: then turn the con- 
tents of the saucepan upside down on a hot dish, 
and the cauliflowers will be found standing in a 
savory mixture. 

{-. Wiiii Sauce (Home Cyclopedia). Boil a 
large cauliflower tied in Dotting in hot Baited 

wat.-r. f i . .in twenty five to thirty minute-,; drain, 

serve in a deep dish with the flower upwards, and 
pour over ii a cup of drawn butter in which has 

heen stirred the juice of a Lemon and a half tea- 
Bpoonful of French mustard, mixed up well with 
the Bauce. 

L8. With Cubby Sauci Mrs. Marshall). Blanch 
note to \". 19 and plain boil the cauliflower 
for lifteeo to t went \ minute- till tender, then cut 
it up into nice long piece-, each sufficient for one 
person; place the pieces in a -ante pan and pour 
the curry sauce (as for curry d la simla | over them; 
let it boil up, and then draw the pan to the side of 
the stove and let it stav there for ten or twelve 



208 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

minutes; dish the pieces up in the form of cutlets, 
pour the sauce over them, and garnish round the 
cauliflower with little bunches of grated cocoanut 
which have been warmed between two plates over 
boiling water. This is an excellent dish for 
luncheon or second course, or it may be served in 
place of an entree. 

14 With Tomato Sauce ( Good Living). — Having 
boiled a medium -sized cauliflower, very carefully as 
directed (No. 3) place it on a round dish, after 
having thoroughly drained it. Have ready a rich 
tomato sauce (No. 40) pour it around (not over) 
the cauliflower, and serve as a separate course. 
This is a very pretty dish. 

15. With Tomato Sauce ( Good Health). — Boil or 
steam the cauliflower until tender. In another dish 
prepare a sauce by heating a pint of strained 
stewed tomatoes to boiling, thickening with a 
tablespoonful of flour, and salting to taste. When 
the cauliflower is tender, dish, and pour over it the 
hot tomato sauce. 

16. With Mushrooms (Buckeye Cook Book). — 
Put in a frying pan, in hot fat, a few small mush- 
rooms and part of a cauliflower, broken into sprigs. 
Sprinkle over them some grated cheese, and baste 
the whole well from time to time with the hot fat. 

17." With Brussels Sprouts (Mr. S. J. Soyer). — 
Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, dotter of egg, butter, 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 209 

a tablespoonful of cream, half a pint of sauce for 
vegetables, potato pure" — that is, bouillon thickened 
with mashed potatoes and strained. 

Both cauliflower and sprouts are to be well 
cleaned, boiled separately in salt water and served 
on the pure, the cauliflower in the centre and the 
sprouts around it for garnishing. The Bauce, to 
which is added the egg dottersj butter and cream, 
is poured hoi over the cauliflower and Bprouts. 

is. Ai Gratis {Good Living). — Boil the cauli- 
flower as directed. Sei it in a round baking dish 
which can be Benl bo the table For a moderate 
sized cauliflower male- one pint «>f cream Bauce 
(No. I- . Add to the Bauce two heaping table- 
spoons each or grated Parmesian and Gruj 
cheese and a dash of cayenne. Mix the Bauce and 
pourii over the cauliflower, Letting it penetrate all 
the crevices. ( lover the bop with tine grated br< 
crumbs, dol with butter, and bake twenty minutes. 

Serve in the same dish. 

19. Ai Gratln i Mrs. Marshall >. —Trim the cauli- 
flower and blanch it ' ; put it to boil in boiling 
water till it is tender; then take up and drain. 
Butter the dish on which it is to be served and 
.put on it about two bablespoonrjols of the sauce as 

* Blanching anything is placing it on the tire in <•< d«l 
water until it 1 >. >ils, ;in<l after straining it off plunging it 
into cold water for the purpose of rendering it white. 



210 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

below (No. 39); put the cauliflower on the sauce, 
then cover it over thickly with sauce, and smooth it 
all over with a palette knife; sprinkle it with 
browned bread-crumbs; stand the dish in an ordi- 
nary baking tin containing about a pint of boiling 
water; place in the oven for about fifteen or twenty 
minutes, and when a nice golden color take it from 
the oven and sprinkle over it a very little grated 
Parmesian cheese. Stand the dish on another with 
a napkin, and serve very hot as a second course or 
luncheon dish. 

20. Au Gratin (Mr. S. J. Soyer). — Three cauli- 
flower heads, salt, pepper, grated bread, two eggs, 
one- quarter pound grated Parmesian cheese, one- 
quarter pound grated Swiss cheese, one pint white 
sauce. 

The cauliflowers are boiled rare, taken out and 
drained off. White sauce and spices are boiled 
thick and the egg dotters and cheese mixed with it. 
The cauliflowers are cut to pieces and put in layers 
with sauce between, on a dish or silver saucepan, 
are sprinkled with grated bread and cheese, put 
fifteen minutes into a hot oven to be browned with 
a salamander. Serve as an independent dish. 

In place of " white sauce " butter and flour may , 
be baked together and thinned with sweet milk. 

21. Cauliflower au Naturel (Mr. J. S. Soyer). — 
The stem of the white, solid cauliflower heads is cut 



COOKING CAULIFLOWEB. 211 

off an inch from the head, and with a penknife is 
cleaned of the hard outer membrane, taking care to 
preserve the head as whole as possible; the head is 
then well rinsed in cold water, to which is added 
some vinegar to drive out larvae and the like; it 
is then boiled in Bali water until it is tender, when 
- taken np to drain off on a si«*ve or colander. 
tobe served high od a napkin, with melted 
butter, common Bance for vegetables, Dutch Bauce, 
/•< lonfr or mditn d'hdti l Banc 

X. B. P( >r caulifl oerally, the 

Bauce ought to be rather thick, as it is imposeibL 
have the vegetables run perfectly drj when they are to 
rved warm. 

22. A i \ Pban< use (Honn Cyclopedia . After 
trimming properly, cu( the cauliflower into quar 
ters, and put into a Btewpan and boil until tender; 
drain and arrange it neatly on a dish. Pour over 
it melted butt 

23. A i \ Louis XI V (Mr. S. J. Soyer). Cauli- 
flower, new-made butter, grated nutmeg, bouillon. 

Tin* cauliflower is to be repeatedly washed in 
lukewarm water, boiled with bouillon and a little 
nutmeg, drained and then shaken with butter over 
a tire. To be Berved as soon as the butter is 
melted. 

24 A i \ Vabenne Mrs. Marshall). — Trim a 
cauliflower, and place it in salt and water for about 



212 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

one hour; then put it into cold water with a pinch 
of salt; bring to the boil, and then rince the cauli- 
flower and put it again into boiling water which is 
seasoned with salt, to cook till tender. When 
cooked, cut it in pieces and dish up in a coil; pour 
parsley sauce over, and garnish it round with 
braised carrots or a macedoine of vegetables, and 
place the cut up stalks of cauliflower in the centre. 
Serve for a luncheon or second course dish. 

25. En Mayonaise (Mr. S. J. Soyer). — Two 
heads of cauliflower, salt, pepper, sweet oil, estragon, 
chopped parsley, vinegar, oil- sauce. 

The cauliflowers are to be plucked apart and the 
stemlets cut off at proper lengths. Boil in water, 
and salt when nearly done. Drain off and let cool, 
and then marinate for an hour with oil, vinegar, 
spices, estragon and parsley. Drain on a sieve. 
To be served high on a dish, and oil sauce gradu- 
ally to be poured over. If desired, the dish might 
be garnished with carrots or some other suitable 
vegetable. 

26. Souffle of Cauliflower, A la Baronne (Mrs. 
Marshall). — Trim a nice cauliflower, put it to 
blanch (note to No. 19), then rince it and put it 
into boiling water with a little salt, and let it cook 
till tender; take up again, drain, and cut it in neat 
pieces and place them in a buttered souffle dish 
with alternate layers of raw sliced tomatoes ; season 



COOK I No cauliflower 213 

with a very little salt and white pepper, and rill up 
the dish with a souffle mixture prepared as below, 
and sprinkle over with a few browned bread 
crumbs: place a few pieces of butter here and there 
on the top, and bake in a moderate oven for thirty 
minutes, dish apoD a paper with a napkin round, 
sprinkle it with a Little chopped parsley, and serve 
for second course or luncheon. 

Mixture for Cauliflowei Souffle. Mix two 
ounces of butter, one and a half ounces of line 
four, our and a half raw yulks of eggs, tin\ dusi 

of cayenne, a Baltspoonful of salt, with cot quite 
half a pint of old milk: Btir over tie- tire till it 
boils, then ad. I three ounces of grated Parmesian 
cheese and the whites <>f thr. thai have beeo 

whipped stiff, with a pinch <>f salt, and ose. 

27. Oauliploweb Salad (Good Living). One pint 
cold b<»ilcd cauliflower, one teaspoon of chervil, 
chopped a- fine a- powder, one teaspoon of parsley, 
chopped as fine as powder, one teaspoon of tarragon 
or Maille vinegar, French dressing. 

Boil the cauliflower as directed (No. 3). Sepa- 
rate the flowerets, mix with the parsley, chives and 
dressing. Sel aside one hour. Serve very cold. 

A no/In r i Buckt //' ( 'ook Book .—After boiling, 
let cool and dress with Mayonnaise, or any dressing 
preferred. 



214 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

28. Cauliflowek Omelette. — Take the white part 
of a boiled cauliflower after it is cold, chop it very 
small, and mix with it a sufficient quantity of well 
beaten egg to make a very thick batter; then fry it 
in fresh butter, in a small pan, and send to the 
table hot. 

Note: — This omelette makes a fine dressing to 
pour hot over fried chicken when ready to send to 
the table. 

29. Cauliflower Soup (Mr. S. J. Soyer). Two 
and a half quarts bouillon, one and a half pint 
milk, two or three cauliflowers, two and a half 
ounces butter, one and a half ounce flour, sugar, 
salt. 

The cauliflowers are cleaned, and boiled almost 
ready, taken out and put on a sieve, and the soup 
preserved. The butter and flour are baked to- 
gether; and with the milk, bouillon, sugar and salt 
added to the decoction from the cauliflowers. These 
are then cut into proper pieces and put into the 
soup, which is subjected to a quick boil and then 
served with bread dumplings: crumbs of white 
bread moistened with milk, melted butter, d otter of 
eggs, and the whites beaten to a stiff froth — the 
mass rolled into balls, and boiled until they float. 

30. Cauliflower Cream Soup (Rural New 
Yorker). — Boil the cauliflower in salt water until 
nearly done. For a small head, bring another quart 



COOKIM. I Vri.IFLOWER. 215 

of water | or milk and water) to boil, adding half an 
onion, or a bit of spice if desired, and thicken it as 
for drawn battel Bailee, with an ounce of battel 
and some flour. Boil the cauliflower in the liquid 
until soft. 1 1 i**n put thf whole through a colander: 
return to thf fire, and add a cup of cream; dimmer 
for five minutes, and serve at once, with squares of 
tried bread. 

31. Broccoli (American <>'ir>i>n). — Broccoli is 
a pleasant change From cabbage and cauliflower, 
either a- a salad or a Bide dish. T<> dress it, Btrip 
oil' the little branches, till the top one is left, then 
with a sharp knife peel ofi all thf hard Bkin on the 
stalks and branchlets and throw them into water. 
When the water in the stewpan boils, put in tin* 
ccoli and cook till tender, salting in the last 
five minutes. Serve with toasl dipped in the broc 
coli water, laying the Btalks over it. and eat with 
vinegar ami melted butter. < >r. lei it get cold, cut 
in small bits, and serve as Balad with oil and vin 
egar, with lemon juice, garnished with nasturtium 
buds. Or, serve a large round of toast, the size of 
a dinner plate, moistened with broccoli water, 
salted and buttered, with nicely poached eggs laid 
on it, and Bprigs of hot broccoli set thickly between, 
dusting with fine salt. Cauliflower and solid white 
cabbage may be served the Bame way. 



216 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

32. Egg Broccoli {Home Cyclopedia). — Take 
half a dozen heads of broccoli, cut off the small shoots 
or blossoms and lay them aside for frying; trim the 
stalks short and pare off the rough rind up to the 
head, wash them well and lay them in salt water 
for an hour, then put them into plenty of boiling 
water (salted) and let them boil fast till quite 
tender. Put two ounces of butter into a saucepan, 
and stir it over a slow fire till it is melted ; then add 
gradually six or eight well-beaten eggs and stir 
the mixture until it is thick and smooth. Lay the 
broccoli in the center of a large dish, pour the egg 
around it, and, having firied the broccoli blossoms, 
arrange them in a circle near the edge of the dish. 

33. Pickled (Mrs. M. P. A. Crozier). — Break at 
the natural divisions, steam till tender, and place 
in a jar of cold vinegar with mustard and red 
peppers. 

34. Pickled (Gardener's Text Book). — Place the 
heads in a keg, and sprinkle them liberally with 
salt. Let them remain thus for about a week, 
when you may turn over them scalding hot vinegar, 
prepared with one ounce of mace, one ounce of 
pepper corns, and one ounce of cloves to every 
gallon. Draw off the vinegar, and return it scald- 
ing hot several times until the heads become tender. 

35. Pickled (Rural New Yorker). — Break the 
heads into small sprays, throw them into a kettle 



COOKING CAULIFLOWER. 217 

of scalding brine; let them come to a boil, and 
drain carefully, so as not to break them; pack in 
stone or glass jars, and cover with scalding vinegar 
soned as follows: To one gallon of vinegar 
allow one cup of white sugar, half an ounce of 
mace, one ounce of peppercorns, two or three red 
pepper pods broken into bits, and a tablespoonful 
each of coriander Beed, celery Beed, and white 
mustard. Pour this hot over the cauliflowers and 
Beal at once. Glass jars are the most convenient, 
as they may be examined frequently to Bee if their 
contents are keeping welL If not, repeal the 
scalding. In all pickles the vinegar should be two 
inches or more above the vegetables, as n is Bure to 
shrink, and if the vegetables are aoi thoroughly 
immersed in vinegar they will ool keep. 

36. Pickled (Home Cyclopedia). — Choose such 
as are firm, yel of their full Bize; cut away all the 
leaves and pare tin-talk^ pull away the flowers in 
bunches, Bteep in brine two day-, then drain them, 
wipe them <\v\. and put them in hot pickle, or 
merely infuse for three days three ounces of currv 
powder in ever} quart of vinegar. 

Anotfu r. Slice, salt for two or thre. ■ days, drain,. 

spread upon a dry cloth before the fire twenty-four 

hours; put in a jar and cover with spiced vinegar. 

37. Mixed Pickles (Homr ( 'yelopedia ). — Three 

huudred small cucumbers, four green peppers 

■4 



218 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

sliced fine, two large or three small heads of cauli- 
flower, three heads of white cabbage sliced fine, 
nine large onions sliced, one large horseradish, one 
quart green beans cut one inch long, one quart 
green tomatoes sliced; put this mixture in a pretty- 
strong brine twenty-four hours; drain three hours; 
then sprinkle in one -fourth pound black and one- 
fourth pound white mustard seed; also one table- 
spoonful black ground pepper ; let it come to a boil 
in just vinegar enough to cover it, adding a little 
alumn; drain again, and when cold put in one- 
half pint ground mustard; cover the whole with 
good cider vinegar; add turmeric enough to color 
if you like. 

ACCESSORY RECEIPTS. 

38. Cauliflower Sauce {Good Living). — Use 
either white or cream sauce, adding to it the 
flowerets of cauliflower previously boiled tender. 
Serve with boiled fowl, veal saute", etc. 

39. Cauliflower Sauce (To accompany No. 
19). — One pint of thick Bechamel sauce, a quarter 
of a pound of grated Parmesian cheese, two table- 
spoonfuls of grated Gruy&re cheese, two table - 
spoonfuls of cream, a little dust of cayenne pepper 
and a pinch of salt; mix well together, and use. 

40. Tomato Sauce (To accompany No 14). — 

6 large tomatoes, or 1 can, 2 chopped onions. 

Butter, size of an egg, Salt and pepper, 

Bunch of parsley or thyme, Pinch of sugar, 

1 tablespoonf ul of butter, 2 tablespoonf uls of flour. 



COOKING CAULIFLOWEE. 219 

Peel the tomatoes, and put into a sauce pan 
with butter, thyme, onions and parsley | and 1 
clove of garlic chopped and fried in butter I . Set 
over boiling water and stew very gently for three 
hours. Then press fruit and juice all through a 
sieve, rejecting only tin • 8 1- and herbs. Mean- 
while prepare a roux, allowing 1 quart of sauce. 1 
tablespoonful of butter, and 2 of flour, stirred to- 
gether over tht> tire until light golden brown — no 
darker, <>r fche color of the sauce will be injured. 
When the sauce i- strained, remove the roux from 
the fire; stir in the sauce. Return it to the tire. 
Stir and l><>il '■'> t" 5 minute*, until rich and thick. 
Should the sauce !>•> already quite thick with the 

pulp "f the tomatoes, use Less thickening. If 

served with Erioandeau, veal -ante, or filel of beef, 
add the juices «>f the meat to the sauce. 

11. Winn. S \ r.i /'<> accompany No. 3, >'<-.) — 

tincea of butt l ounce i >f flour, 

•.' gills <>f water, Pepper and sail . 

I'm "_! ounces <>f the butter in a stew pan; when 
it licit-, add the Hour. Stir for 1 minute or more, 
but do not brown. Then add by degrees the boil- 
ing water, stirring until smooth: pa-- it through a 
sieve; then add the rest of the butter, cut in pieces. 
When the butter is melted, serve immediately. 
This makes about one pint of sauce. You may 
add as a great improvement a little lemon juice or 
a few drops of vinegar. 



220 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

N. B. — If the sauce is to have other ingredients 
added it is best to have it very thick to begin with. 

42. Cream Sauce ( To accompany Nos. 3 and 18 ) . 

1 tablespoon of flour 2 gills of new milk, 

l very large tablespoon of butter. }4 teaspoon of salt, 

Pepper to taste. 

Put J of the butter in a sauce pan over the fire. 
As soon as it melts, add the flour; stir till blended. 
Be careful not to let it brown. Add the boiling 
milk, by degrees, to the flour and butter, stirring 
without ceasing. Boil 3 minutes. Remove from 
the fire; add salt, white pepper, and the rest of the 
butter; stir until the butter melts, and serve im- 
mediately. If it has to be kept, set it over a 
kettle of boiling water; leave the spoon in it, and 
every now and again stir it down or the top will 
form a scum. Do not let it boil after the last but- 
ter is added. Cream may be used instead of new 
milk. 



UKCAITITLATION 



The following recapitulation of the more im- 
portant points connected with cauliflower culture 
will Berve to fix them in mind: 

1. The best localities i'<>r cauliflower growing are 
where the climate is cool and moist, as Dear some 
Large bodj of water. 

'_'. The cauliflower will stand nearly a- much dry 
weather a- ordinary crops while growing, provid- 
ing it has a cool, moisi time in which to head. 

3. The best -"il is a Band} l<>ain. though any 
cool, moist, Btrong, fertilex.il will answer. 

1. While a cool, moisi soil i- desirable, thorough 
drainage is quite as essential as with any other 
crop. 

5. An abundance <»f Btrong barnyard or other 
manure is necessary, as the cauliflower i- a gross 
feeder. 

6. Deep and frequent tillage, that there may be 
no check in growth until the plants are nearly 
ready to head. 

i. Tie or pin the leaves over the heads as soon as 
they appear, to keep them blanched and protect 
them from frost. 



222 THE CAULIFLOWEK. 

8. If any plants have failed to head on the 
approach of winter, remove them to a shed or 
cellar, and they will head there. 

9. Guard against the flea beetle, cut worm, cab- 
bage worm and cabbage maggot in the same 
manner as with cabbage. 

10. With suitable varieties and proper care the 
cauliflower can generally be successfully grown 
wherever the cabbage thrives particularly well. 



GLOSSARY 



Blind. — To " go blind " is to lose the centre or 
growing point, and fail to head. It is generally 
due to climatic or insect injury. It is said to be 
frequently caused in the cauliflower by an ii. 
resembling the turnip fly. Soot and lime are 
remedi 

Blues. — A dark- bluish appearance, accompany- 
ing arrested development, generally duo to unfavor- 
able weather, unsuitable soil or insects at the root. 
Cabbage and cauliflower plants which are set too 
early in the spring, especially if they arc not well 
hardened off and arc placed in a cold soil, are apt 
to assume this appearance. If cauliflowers remain 
long in this condition, they are liable either to fail 
to head, or to form small heads prematurely. 

Bolt. — A familiar term in England, applied to 
wheat when it heads out small and prematurely. 
Sometime applied to cauliflowers when they head 
before they attain a proper age and size. See 
Button. 

Break. — To become loose or " frothy " prepara- 
tory to running up to seed. Said of a head of 
cauliflower; also of other plants as they begin to 
throw up their seed stalks. 



224 THE CAULIFLOWER. 

Button. — To form small heads prematurely, as 
often occurs when plants are left too long in the 
seed-bed. 

Curd. — The material composing the head of a 
cauliflower. Sometimes the heads individually are 
called "curds." 

Drawn. — Having an abnormally long stem, owing 
to crowding, or too great heat, or too little light in 
the seed-bed. 

Flower or Blossom. — Terms often applied to the 
head in the cauliflower, either from its resemblance 
to a flower, or from a mistaken idea that it really is 
a flower. 

Floweret. — A term sometimes applied to one of 
the sprays or sub- division* of a cauliflower head. 

Frothy, see Warty. 

Glaucous. — Pale bluish-green; sea-green. 

Head. — The edible part of a cauliflower, consist- 
ing of a mass of thickened flower- stems at an early 
stage of growth, before they have separated and 
elongated preparatory to forming flowers and seeds. 
Various other terms have been applied to it, such 
as "flower" or "blossom," "boquet," "heart," 
and, by the French, " pomme " (apple), but some- 
times also "tete" (head). 

Heart, see Head. 

Leafy. — Having the head interspersed with 
rather small leaves. A tendency to this condition 



GLOSSARY. 'I'l'i 

is found in some inferior varieties, and in many 
good varieties when they head in hot weather. 

Mossy. — Having numerous minute leaves dis- 
tributed over the head, giving it a '"mossy " appear- 
ance. It is a condition of the same nature as the 
" leafy'" state above mentioned, and produced by 
the same causes. 

i; sue. — An undesirable sport. A cauliflower 
which, unlike the others In the field, runs immedi- 
ately to seed without forming a head, would be 
called a ■' rogue." 

Running. — Throwing up the flower-stalks pre 
paratory to the production of seed. See Break. 

Turning I-.. Commencing to head; a term 
j inally applied to cabbages, but now extended to 
other plant- which Form heads of any kind. 

\V nn on Fbothy. — A condition of the head in 
which the surface is covered with small promi- 
nence preparatory to running up to Beed 

Weatheb-Pboud. An English term which signi- 
fies that plants are larger or more thrifty than 
proper for the time of year. Applied, for example, 
to wintered-over cauliflower plants during a warm, 
early spring. 



REFERENCES. 



In the following works and articles certain points 
in connection with the cauliflower and its cultiva- 
tion are more fully treated than in the present 
work. 

Bon Jardenier, (1859, p. 449). — A good article 
on the origin and varieties of the cauliflower, and 
its cultivation in France. 

Brill, Francis. — " Cauliflowers and How to Grow 
Them," (16 pp., price twenty cents. Published by 
the Author, Biverhead, N. Y., 1886). A well writ- 
ten account of cauliflower growing on Long Island 
and the methods used. 

Burpee, W. A. — "How to Grow Cabbages and 
Cauliflowers," (W. A. Burpee & Co., Philadelphia, 
1890). A pamphlet of eighty-five pages, price 
thirty cents, consisting of prize essays on the Cab- 
bage and Cauliflower, by Mr. G. H. Howard, of 
Long Island, N. Y., and Mr. J. Pedersen, of Den- 
mark; together with directions for cooking these 
vegetables by Mr. S. J. Soyer, chief cook at the 
Court of Denmark; and a chapter on varieties by 
W. A. Burpee. 

De Candolle, Augustin Pyramus. — " Memoir on 
the Different Species, Baces and Varieties of the 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 2-1 

Genus Brassica, and of the Genera Allied with It 
which are Cultivated in Europe'' (read in 1821). — 
Transactions of the Horticultural Society of Lon- 
don, Vol. V, p. 1. 

Don, Geo. — " General History of Dichlamydeous 
Plants," (4 volumes, London. 1831). Volume I, 
pp. 233-241, contains a good account of the cul- 
ture and varieties of broccoli and cauliflower. 
Fifteen varieties of broccoli and three of cauli- 
flower are described 

Journal of Hobticultub I Iottage Gardener, 

(1878, ]». 61 I. A good article on the cultivation of 
cauliflower in England 

Loudon, J. C. "Encyclopaedia of Gardening" 
(5th edition, London. 1827). This standard work 
contains a very full account of the cauliflower and 
it- allies, including < [notation-- from various Eng- 
lish authorities. 

Magazine or Hobticultube, (1839, p. 53). — A 
good article on the cultivation of the cauliflower in 
England. 

M\m sb, John. — "Hints relative to the Culture of 
the Early Purple Broccoli" (read in 18<>S). — 
Transactions of tin Horticultural Society of Lon- 
don, Vol. I, pp. 116 120. An account of the cul- 
ture and varieties of broccoli, with remarks on its 
improvement, and on the liability of broccoli and 
cauliflower to mix with cabbage. 



228 REFERENCES. ■ 

McIntosh, Charles. — "Book of the Garden" 
(2 volumes, London, 1853). The second volume 
contains the best account of cauliflower cultivation 
in England written up to that time. 

Rogers, John.— "The Vegetable Cultivator" 
(London, 1843). Contains a good account of the 
cauliflower and the methods of growing it in Eng- 
land. 

Sturtevant, Dr. E. L. — In his " History of 
Garden Vegetables," in the American Naturalist, 
this author gives the history of cauliflower 
and broccoli, including the earliest recorded evi- 
dences of their cultivation, and the names applied 
to these vegetables in different countries. The 
broccoli is treated in the volume for 1887, p. 438, 
and the cauliflower in the same volume, p. 701. 

Sutton & Sons, Reading, England. — These 
seedsmen publish a work on Gardening, price five 
shillings, in which the subject of cauliflower culture 
in England js fully treated. 

Vilmorin-Andrieux, et cie. — "Plantes Potagers " 
(Paris, 1883). This work by Vilmorin, Andrieux 
& Co., the Paris seedsmen, was translated into 
English, and published under the title of " The 
Vegetable Garden," by Murray, of London, in 
1885. It contains full descriptions of varieties of 
cauliflower, based on trials at the experiment grounds 
of this firm at Paris, and also includes information 
on the cultivation of this vegetable in France. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Anal] sis 196 

Blackleg I ©5 

Blanching :iu 

KlM. coll 10, 11. 13, 1V> 

Buttoning :>: 

Cabbage, history 9 

bage, wild o 

Cabbage maggot i»«; 

Cabbage worm ;»s 

Cauliflower in 

United States 19, <;i 

Mexico 

Europe 19 

India 

rla 

I .hi. I 21 

Prance 20 

« ■■ i many . 21 

Holland 21 

Ilaly 21 

I ong Island 22, <;•.» 

I Sound. 91, 115 

Alabama 

California 

Colorado t; 

Florida. P2 

Georgia 7:1 

Illinois 23, 7.". 

[owa 77 

Louisiana 83 

Massachusetts 71 

Michigan 72, 185 

Minnesota 74 

Missouri 7G 

New Jersey 69 



Page. 

North Carolina 7s 

< >liio 7."> 

on 90 

South Dakota 78 

84 

Washington 91, 115 

Wisconsin 74 

Cauliflower industry 19 

Climate 

. 89,90, 112, 116 

Cooking !«>.-, 

1 'ross-fertilizatlon. 113, 11 1. 121 

Cultivation .-{7 

Cut worms 94 

Damping ofl km 

Duty, see Tariff 

Earllness, order of 177 

j cauliflower 58 

Failures 19, 53, 69, 71 

Fertilizers 

26, I B5, 87, 116 

Flea beetle 27, 29, 93 

Frost, effect ol 41 

Fungi 101 

Glossary 223 

Harvesting. 42 

History 9 

Importation of cauliflower. 23 

I; sects 30, 93, 87 

in igation 20, 38, 77 

Keeping 48 

Large heads... 77, 83, 86, 169, 171 

Louse 29, 100 

Marketing 47, 55, 79, 81 

Mildew 105 



230 



THE CAULIFLOWER. 



Page. 

Origin 9 

Packages 45 

Packing 45 

Pickles 23,216 

Preparing the ground 

35, 68, 87, 116 

Price 47, 55, 65, 69, 79 

Paget Sound seed. . .109, 115, 185 

Recapitulation 221 

References 227 

Rot 101 

Scale of maturity 177 

Seed 107 

in Cyprus 109 

Denmark 110 

England 108, 110 

France 108 

Germany 108 

Holland 108 

Scotland 108 



Page. 

India 89 

Long Island 110 

Massachusetts 110 

Mexico 86 

Puget Sound. ..109, 115. 185 
Seed, amount needed ... 88, 115 
Seed, duration of vitality. . . 115 

Seed, sowing 27. 33, 82, 87 

Selling, see Marketing', . . 

Soil 25,72, 82, 86, 116 

Soil, preparation of 

35,68, 87, 116 

Sowing seed 27, 33, 82, 87 

Tariff on cauliflower 23 

Terms 223 

Time to cut 42 

Time to sow 33 

Transplanting — 35, 117 

Trimming 44 

Varieties U, 125, 187 

Variety tests 178 



HOW TO EXTEND THE MARKET 



For Cauliflower. 



The market demand for any product is always a 
matter of growth. Peter Henderson said in l s *>7 
that an acre of cauliflower was as much as could be 
profitably Bold from one garden in the New York 
market. Now, five to fifteen acres in a single field 
is not an uncommon Bight on Long [sland. It is 
the business of the grower Dot only to Bupply the 
demand, but to create it. One way to increase the 
demand fur cauliflower is to teach consumers 
the best methods of using it. We believe that if 
cauliflower growers could distribute freely to their 
customers the information found in the chapter on 
cooking in this work on Cauliflower it would result 
in largely increased sales, Accordingly we have 
reprinted this chapter as a separate pamphlet and 
offer it to market gardeners and others at the follow- 
ing very low rate-. Single copies, ten cents, $5 per 
hundred. Sample copy free upon request to any 
purchaser of this book. Please give these a trial. 
RECISTER PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

Ann Arbor, Michigan 



Henderson's early Snowball 




EARLY, LARGE 



A SURE HEADER. THE 



STANDARD VARIETY EVERYWHERE. 

Sold by all Dealers in Our Original Packages, 

Sealed with our RED TRADE MARK LABEL. 
Peter Henderson & Co., 

SEEDSMEN, 
35 & 37 Cortland St, - NEW YORK. 



PUGET SOUND 

CAULIFLOWER and CABBAGE SEED. 

THE BEST IN THE WORLD. 

[n every part of the country, from Maine to Oregon, it Is 
pronounced good. High Testl ty from High Sources. 

Reports oj Ou Experiment Stations: 
Prof. W.J.Green, Ohio. \_. Ex. Sta., says: Having tested your 
Snowball and Earliesl Dwarf Erf urt, 1 do nol hesitate, after 
careful trials, to say that your t 'auliflower seed ranks w itli the 
ver} b< st. Nol onlj does it -how the effects of careful selection, 
but the seeds were verj Large and full of vitality, germinated 
quick, and produced plants of uncommon \ i lt< Ir. healthy In 
all stages of growth. If the s< ed senl us i- a fair sample you 
aeed not hesitate to claim that it Is as good as any thai can be 
produced, as far as quality Is concerned, and in' vitality ami 

sequenl vigorof plant- excelling Imported seed by & per 

rent. [ shall nol hesitate t" recommend Puget Sound Cauli 
flower seed, for I believe it t<> be The Besl in tin' World. 
Prof. I. i;. lafi. Mich. Ag. Col., writes: 

Dear Sir. The Early Perfection i"Novelty No. '.>"> and 
American grown Snowball Cauliflower seed sent lure for trial 
i..\ you, as compared with nine other varieties, the following i- 
tin- report. No - Is American Snowball, and No. in i- Novelty 
No. 9 or Eat i> Perfecl ion : 
I : :; ) B t(» 11 

■ u > B6 99 (.. i tnlnatlon. 

• 89 .■■ 90 60 Vegetation 
BO BO ;■' BO ( .»'i 40 60 90 '.»> loo BO Vigor and heading 
The Early Perfection (No. 9) was one of the flrst to form 
in ads, requiring Bfty-three days from time of planting out. It 
fullj a- good ami large heads a- any of tin- other early 
kinds. I am particularly pleased with' tin- high vegetative 
powers of your seeds, ami t he vigor of tin- plant-. 

Mich. Ag. Col.. Nov. 30, [890. 
II. A March, Fldalgo, Wash.: 

Dear Sir,- Vour letter asking for a report of your Cabb 
and • aull flower Seed, is at band. The Pugel Sound strain of 
Early Wakefield Cabbage seed was so noticably large that I 
weighed several samples of it and found that It averaged two 
ana one-half times as large a- tin -aim- varietj from other 
seedsmen in tin- seed-box we obtained 97 plants from inn seeds. 

The plant- were much stronger than those of any other 
variety. Twenty-five plants were put out. ami every one 
formed a perfecl head They were \ ery even in size ami shape, 
;ivi'i-;r.'iii'.' slightly Larger than our other strains, with three 
da\ - difference in t heir favor in earliness. 

Very truly. 1. i;. TAPT. 

Prices half tfu pria of imported seed of tfu same quality. 
Send for prices and testimonials tn 

H. A. MARCH, Fidalgo. Skagit Co., Wash. 



5ry PfflerKai? Qrouur; Qadliflou/er S<?<?d, 




AFTER many years costly of costly experimenting I 
believe I am now in position to supply a finer 
grade of Cauliflower seeds for less money than can be 
procured from any dealer who imports his stock. We 
have named ours 

Tillingh ast's Early Padilla. 

By mail post paid, 20cts°. per pkt. $2*00 per oz. net 
Catalogue free on application 



ADDRESS 



ISAAC F. TILLiNGHAST, 



LA PLUME, PA. 



Stecher Lithographic Co. 

o 

ROCHESTER, N. Y. 

PUBU8H AM) SAVE No\V IN STO< K OVEB 

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IS Varieties Cherries. 
SO Varieties Plums. 

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40 Varieties Roses. 

53 Varieties Ornamental Shrubs. 

60 Varieties Miscellaneous. 

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Dixie ZEF^irj^ie:^- 

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